A Growing Heart
by KDS2
Summary: Ratchet and Clank, while on a search for more bolts, stumble upon a strange weapon developed by Dr. Nefarious. Upon taking it back to Aphelion, the duo's curiosity would trigger an explosion, setting in motion events that will force the three to look within and see the changes they need to make, both in themselves and in each other if they want to survive, or even stick together.
1. So What To Do?

**Chapter 1: So What To Do?**

 **This is my first Ratchet & Clank story, and my third fanfiction period... So uh, I guess wish me luck? This is rated-T because I'm a bit paranoid on the level of violence. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Ratchet & Clank belong to Insomniac, this story belongs to me.**

 **For those who are curious, this is the same story originally named "Bolt switch" but I have changed the name and description to better fit the slightly more mature story idea I have.**

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Ratchet was sleeping and snoring on the couch, a game controller on the floor next to his dangling hand, the TV still going with a game over screen on, and somber music coming from the same device. Small foot steps were then heard before the TV went off, and soon, a voice called to the Lombax, a quiet robotic voice that was trying to gently wake the cat-like creature.

"...Ratchet..." The named Lombax didn't respond to the call of his name, and continued to sleep obliviously.

"Ratchet." The robotic voice calls in a noticeably sterner tone, sounding both louder and closer. Ratchet only gave a soft groan before turning in place onto his side, facing away from the couch and towards the caller of his name. A small silence followed before a tiny high-pitched beep broke the silence followed by a deep, loud, and prideful voice.

"Articon Fusion Reactor not working? No problem! Come and get your Qwarkiton Reactor 2000 today and never-"

"Son of a **Qwark**!"

Suddenly, the sound of metal slamming against a wall and breaking was heard as Ratchet sat up and glared angrily at the source of the deep voice before looking at the person calling his name.

"What the heck Clank?! You know how much I hate that thing, why would you play it in my ear?!" He asks with a furious scowl, the little robot blinking before smiling.

"Cause I always happen to find your reaction amusing. In any case, I was trying to wake you up, but you were being unresponsive and stubborn as usual." Clank responds nonchalantly, Ratchet's glare deepening for a moment before rolling his eyes.

" **Why** do we still have that stupid voice commercial thing? I thought I got rid it." Ratchet asks exasperated, while Clank gave off that creepy giggle of his.

"You did. But Ourtube has a surprising quantity of recorded events to examine." Ratchet groaned at his best friend's response, lazily reaching over to the table and grabbing the clock to check the date before blinking in surprise.

"What the- Clank it's the weekend why did you wake me up so darn early!?" Ratchet asks staring at the date before looking at his friend.

"Because our Spaceflix Subscription is going to expire by the end of the day, and I thought I should let you know ahead of time instead of when you normally wake up on the weekends... Which tends to be after lunch."

"Oh... Well, then... Just, pay for it like we normally do." Ratchet says shrugging and laying back down.

"I can not." Clank says with a bored tone, Ratchet turning his head to look at the small robot companion.

"Why?"

"Because we no longer have any bolts in our custody."

" **What**?!" Came the shrill cry from the Lombax who shot up into a sitting position, fidgeting around as he tried to think of how they could've run out of their currency.

"H-how is that- I don't- ho-how are we broke?! Don't we collect like- hundreds and hundreds of bolts in nearly every adventure we go on?! How do we have freaking nothing?!" Ratchet asks finally standing up and looking down at Clank, who gave his friend a raised eyebrow.

"Consequences." He simply stated in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone. Ratchet only took a double take and stared at Clank skeptically, Clank just blinked before sighing and beginning to count off the reasons for their predicament.

"Weapons, Inventory space, as you say, and I quote "badass gear", repairs for collateral damage, repairs for personal damage, fines for theft of a multitude of things, including the nanobots that heal you, ammo, and the very same bolts we are currently discussing about, your pilot's license which you seem to lose on every one of those said adventures we go on, fines for crossing multiple space borders without a pass, fines for crossing actual borders without a pass, fines for destruction of property, materials and tools so that you can continue to work your job as a mechanic among other temporary jobs, medical bills, repair bills for Aphelion, upgrades for Aphelion, paint jobs for Aphelion, the holo-games you buy, food, electric bills, taxes, water, interest that comes with most of the things previously listed... Hmm, what else am I missing-"

"Okay okay, I get it!" Ratchet says rubbing his temple with his fingers to try and rid himself of the migraine he just gained before sighing as he went to get his boots and Omniwrench.

"Just let me get my boots and Omniwrench..." At that statement, Clank -who had been staring up in thought about anything he could've forgotten- blinked in recognition before looking at his friend.

"Oh yes, and every new edition parts that go with your Omniwrench that come out." Ratchet flinched at the jab before continuing with a sigh

"Yeah sure just, plunge that knife right in my back..." Ratchet sighs as he grabbed the Omniwrench and went to get his boots.

"There is also the phones you break like the one you hurled into the wall just now." Clank added, making Ratchet pause before glaring at the smaller robot.

"Just had to turn that knife huh pal?" He asks with a angry glare

"I do not have any idea of what you speak of." Clank says innocently, yet the nonchalant calm smirk on his face loudly stated otherwise, Ratchet raised an eyebrow before focusing on putting his feet into his boots.

"Remind me again why we have to pay for all of that? The electricity, water, food, weapons, Omniwrenches, and holo-game thing I get, but all that other stuff? I thought after they knew we were heroes they would start paying for those things, kinda like they do for he who won't be named?" Ratchet asks as he checks his boots, then his wrench, and finally stands up.

"It would appear to not be the case, as records states all those charges were put on other heroes as well." Clank explains as he walks off into the kitchen after hearing a beep, and the sound of wood dragging on wood was heard before other kinds of sounds.

"What bunch of hogwash... So I'm guessing he who won't be named gets his stuff paid for cause he's 'the president'?" Ratchet asks before smelling what his friend was cooking in the kitchen. "Breakfast Burrito?"

Ratchet's question was answered as Clank walked back into the living room with one burrito wrapped in paper, Ratchet leaning forward slightly to take it from his companion.

"Why yes, to both of your questions in fact, the media and the officials have to pay for President Qw-"

"He who won't be named!"

"He who will not be named," Clank corrects with motion of his head that would signify a roll of his eyes before continuing his statement. "For they still believe he is the sole reason that our galaxies are safe."

"Mother Hubbard..." Ratchet sighs as he puts his custom Millennium Omniwrench 12000 down to unwrap his burrito halfway, Clank staring up at the Lombax with confusion.

"May I ask where is it you attained your sudden extra phrases?" Clank asks with a tilt, Ratchet glancing at his friend as he was about to take a bite before giving an 'oh' kind of nod.

"Too much time holo-gaming last night. It'll go away after it gets out my head." Ratchet answers with a shrug. Clank raised an eyebrow at his best friend, staring at him before half-closing his eyes and sighing.

"4 The Dead Left Behind, and Fortress Defense Team 2 again?"

"Hey I can't help it! Pipes make some pretty sweet games!" Ratchet exclaims raising his hands in defense, Clank smiling at him before walking off, Ratchet watching the little guy for a moment before grabbing his Omniwrench, and following him while eating his breakfast.

"To where do you suggest we set our destination first?" Clank asks as he and Ratchet enter their garage, getting on the hover board that the Lombax owned, said creature placing his now half eaten burrito in his mouth and turning on the hover board.

"Dunno... Let's ask Aphelion where she thinks we should go first." Ratchet suggests while resuming the act of devouring his burrito, Clank glancing at his friend before climbing onto his back.

"How about-"

"No." Ratchet dully interrupted. "Not gonna do anycrap for that guy just so that he gets the credit again." The young adult stated with a frown, Clank raising an eyebrow before shaking his head.

"I was going to suggest to search for Gold Bolts but it is good to know of your opinion on the option." The robot finishes, Ratchet's ears twitching before the male sighed.

"Sorry buddy... Just kinda been cranky." The Lombax apologizes.

"As you usually are in the mornings, but I do accept the apology." Clank says hugging Ratchet's back, who paused before smiling as he finished his burrito and began to drive.

"Thanks." Clank patted Ratchet's head in reassurance before looking at his surroundings.

"So may I take this as confirmation on the Golden Bolts?" Clank asks curiously, Ratchet blinking before tilting his head slightly in thought.

"Not sure on that one pal, most of the time, Golden Bolts seem to be a lot more trouble than they're worth... But I'll definitely keep that on the list... And the 'president' will be the last resort." Ratchet informs as he watches the road ahead of him. Clank giving confirmation that he heard the Lombax before the two went silent as the organic being drove them both through the city all the way to the ship docks.

At the docks Ratchet parked his hover-board somewhere safe where it couldn't be stolen easily before the two headed inside. At the entrance there was a guy in a small cubical who was minding his own business before he noticed the two walking over. The man sighed before pressing a button that unlocked the doors to the bay, at the same time getting his phone ready to speed dial a reliable construction team in preparation for an event of which he had no doubt, was probably going to wreck the area, if not half the city. Ratchet looked at the guy and nodded before entering, Clank voicing his thanks as he followed his friend in. Once inside the duo took a quick glance around before both headed all the way down the bay to a ship that was docked, a small one of Lombax origin with Zoni parts and paint job.

"Hey Aphelion." Ratchet greets coolly, the ship being silent for a moment before it suddenly came to life.

"Hello Ratchet, I'm curious, why are you up so early? Especially on a weekend?" Aphelion greets and questions in both curiosity and confusion, Ratchet side-eying Clank who responded by looking at the Lombax with a smile.

"We are going on a quest for more Bolts." Clank informs looking at the ship and walking over, Ratchet following with his arms crossed, Aphelion then opened the cockpit of her ship so the two could enter.

"So how was your nap?" Ratchet asks curiously, making Clank glance over with some surprise in his eyes.

"It was... Peaceful, to say the least." Aphelion responded with the same kind of surprise slightly detectable in her voice. Ratchet raised an eyebrow in confusion, at the two's confusion, before shrugging.

"Anyways, any ideas on where we should head first Aphelion?" Ratchet asks, there was a moment of silence before Aphelion responded.

"How about Dr. Nefarious? There is a nearby base that I could take you to." The ship suggests, Ratchet looking up in thought before looking over to Clank, who looked at the organic with a 'your-call' look before the male looked at the control panel of the ship.

"Let's do it, I've been wanting to blow something up anyways." Ratchet agrees with a grin, Clank chuckling in his creepy chuckle, which only made Ratchet shiver slightly.

"You're never gonna stop that creepy chuckle are you...?" He asks in a low voice, his robot companion placing a hand on his chin in mock thought before shaking his head.

"No, I do not think I will." He states smiling, Ratchet rolling his eyes before looking at the control panel.

"Ready Aphelion?" He asks, beginning to feel giddy inside, he has always loved watching things go boom, and finding a ton of bolts while he was at it -as Nefarious always seemed to have quite a large amount in every base- was always a definite bonus.  
Aphelion's response was the sound of the engines roaring in preparation.

"Alright then... Let's go!" Ratchet cheers shooting out the bay and flying out into space, a light blue path being lit on the front windshield as to lead the way to their destination.

(After a bit of flying)

"This is it?" Ratchet asks skeptically, staring at an asteroid that was actually pretty big.

"I would've expected something bigger..." Ratchet admits before taking a double take. "I'm not even kidding, I honestly wanted something bigger." He states with a shrug, Clank smirking before looking ahead.

"Let us get ready to enter, and do not be so disappointed Ratchet, quality over quantity." Clank informs getting up and heading to the back, Ratchet watching him as he spoke before looking at the control panel.

"Already set on standby." Aphelion states before the hero could even say a word, the Lombax smiled before getting out his seat and heading into the back, the doors opening to reveal a moderate sized room -Aphelion wasn't that large anyway- with weapons hanging in every corner, some small enough to be wielded by Clank without a hitch, some larger than the Lombax's own body, there were also a couple of suits hanging as well, all from the hero's previous adventures.

"So which weapons should we take along?" Ratchet asks immediately walking over to the Plasma Striker and grabbing it. "Aside from this one, I kinda don't want to grab any of the big ones." He states, making Clank look over with surprise and confusion in his voice.

"Who are you and what have you done with Ratchet?" He asks, Ratchet grinning as he looks down at the robot.

"I am Ratchet, and I haven't done anything with myself, I just want to create as many booms as possible before we blow up the entire asteroid." He informs looking at the Groovitron and grabbing it as well, holding the grenade against the glowing green symbol on his belt, a bright light then flashed before suddenly, the grenade was gone. Ratchet smiled in satisfaction before doing the same with the Plasma Striker.

"I love these inter-dimensional tool boxes." The Lombax states happily, before grabbing the Constructo Pistol and placing it into the same toolbox as the previous two weapons.

"Might I suggest the RHYNO V? To end it all on a high note without completely decimating everything in one shot, to, 'make it last'." Clank suggests, Ratchet nodding with a big grin as he then went and grabbed one of his favorite rocket launchers and placed it in the same pocket.

"There, now for the suit." Ratchet says to no one in particular before heading over and grabbing his holo-flux suit, and putting it on himself, on top of his pilot suit. Clank watched all of this with interest in his eyes, before the small robot headed over to the hatch. Soon Ratchet followed wearing his full holo-flux suit -including the helmet-.

"Ready?" Ratchet asks, Clank giving a nod and an affirmative. Ratchet then look up at the roof of the ship.

"Find somewhere safe to hang out okay Aphelion? We'll call you when we're ready." Ratchet calls out, receiving multiple beeps in response before the voice of the AI.

"Of course. Am I to assume that you will be leaving in a hurry... As usual?"

"The probability of that happening is ninety percent... So... Yes." Clank response as he begins unlocking the hatch, Ratchet's suit's breathing apparatus activating before the Lombax's ears twitched at the sound of Aphelion's voice calling out to the two.

"Good luck." Ratchet grinned big as he puts a hand on the lever to open the hatch.

"I don't need luck. I have you two." He states before opening the hatch, which shot both the Lombax and the robot out into space in the direction of the asteroid. Clank quickly attached himself to Ratchet's back and stayed there, the Lombax activating his jet boots to project himself further towards the asteroid.

"You know... This reminds me of that space horror third-person shooter holo-game we have." The Lombax suddenly states, Clank looking at him before speaking through the communicator in Ratchet's helmet.

"You mean Empty Death?" Clank asks, getting a nod from his partner. "Which one?"

"The second and third one... Though mostly the second." Ratchet informs with a smile as the asteroid was approaching at a speed that would make any normal creature uneasy, Ratchet however, only grinned bigger as he and clank approached the asteroid at higher and higher speeds.

"I have detected a possible entrance 100 meters to the right." Clank informs, Ratchet giving a sharp 'got it' before adjusting trajectory and heading to the mentioned location, where the two could see a metal hatch in the side of the asteroid.

"Must be where they get in period." Ratchet ponders out loud before maneuvering his feet in front of him, preparing himself for a hard landing.  
A loud boom echoed through the base, alerting guards robots and organic creatures of all sizes of the intruders, very quickly, an air vacuum began sucking some of the robots and organics out into outer space, also sucking away the cloud of dust, dirt, and asteroid material that was made from the explosion and revealing Ratchet, who stood on the ground unaffected by the air vacuum thanks to his magnetic jet-boots. The Lombax then tapped his belt and out came the Groovitron, the organic being smirking as he looked up and saw a jell of some kind seal up the small hole he made, before looking forwards to see the threats all lining up in front of him.

"Hey Clank, I feel like they're bunching up tighter just for us." Ratchet sighs with a disappointed smile, Clank chuckling as he responded.

"They are probably newer models. Noobs as you would say." Ratchet laughed at his best friend's possible reason before tossing the grenade forward, it rolled and rolled before stopping near the middle of the crowd, who all looked down at the grenade only to see what looked like a...

Disco ball?

Suddenly, lights shot out from the chrome ball and music began playing, making all the robots and creatures dance against their will. Ratchet watched all of this with amusement clear in his face.

"I never get tired of seeing this." He states happily, Clank climbing off his back to see and smiling quite big.

"Neither do I, but as you know, we are on a time table." The small robot reminds. Ratchet immediately replied with a sigh, of which the words 'I know' could be heard, before he put the Groovitron away, pulled the RHYNO V out and opened fire just enough to make sure there was no more anything. When the smoked cleared and the disco music stopped, there was nothing left... Save for a fair pile of Bolts, all of which was sucked into the glowing pendant on Ratchet's chest.

"Don't know how many Bolts that was... Let's keep going." The Lombax suggests, Clank nodding and climbing back up onto his friend's back. Ratchet smiled and was about to run deeper into the base before pausing and staring with big eyes at a certain floating object.

"Ratchet?"

"Clank... Remember when I said that Golden Bolts are hard to find...?"

"Why yes... May I inquire as to why you ask the question?" Clank asks turning on Ratchet's back to look before taking a double take. "Oh my..."

"I think I know why now..." Ratchet says as he stares at the pile of 25 golden bolts, before he burst into cheering and laughter as he ran over.

"That sneaky bastard was hoarding these babies!" Ratchet says smiling big as he put each Golden Bolt in the same pocket as all the other bolts he collected, Clank jumping off his friend's back to help out. In a few minutes, the entire pile was neatly packed in Ratchet's inter-dimensional chest pocket, though now both partners were staring at a strange device that was half as big as Ratchet.

"So... Can I touch it now?" Ratchet asks Clank, who, after a moment, gave a nod.

"I have scanned it, there seem to be no traps of any kind attached to the contraption." Ratchet nodded before still cautiously approaching the device, picking it up carefully before quickly jumping out of the way, with Clank doing the same but in the opposite direction. After waiting a couple of seconds for anything to happen, and nothing did, the two walked over to each other.

"Well... We should probably depart now." Clank suggests, Ratchet staring at the device with slightly confused look before looking at his friend nodding.

"Yeah... Sure..." With that, the Lombax put the device into his belt pocket, and grabbed the rocket launcher.

"Aphelion, Clank and I are leaving the same way we entered, ready to pick us up?" Ratchet asks out loud, both him and Clank hearing an "affirmative, I'm on my way" from their coms before Clank attached himself to Ratchet's back.

"I love going out with a bang." Ratchet states before firing the RHYNO V everywhere, unloading all his ammo as he blew things up left and right before using the last round to blow up the jell that sealed the hole the two used to enter. Ratchet let loose a howl of excitement as he and Clank were sucked out into space through the hole, escaping the cargo hold that was blowing up. Out in space the two soar at blinding speeds, Ratchet using his boosters to get him and Clank further from the exploding base, which was pretty easy as there wasn't any kind of resistance to slow their speed, so the two just went gradually faster and faster, until Ratchet cut the boosters and they both just soared through space. The Lombax then looked behind him just to see the asteroid silently explode, sending small debris everywhere, the small rocks not big enough to harm the Lombax's suit as he cheered and howled at the boom.

"That was awesome!" He cheered happily, Clank smiling brightly as well.

"It was, though it was also quick, and I do recall your desire to, 'make it last'." The robot chips, Ratchet's big grin turning into a calm smile as he stared at the remains of the large asteroid that was hit by a trigger-happy Lombax and his best friend.

"Though true, your words buddy not mine, but in the end I think it was worth it." Ratchet says calmly with a shrug as Aphelion flew up in front of both of them and caught them in the cockpit.

"I assume by the destroyed asteroid, and how quickly you two returned, that it did not go well?" Aphelion questioned curiously, Ratchet grinning hugely as he nearly shot from his seat.

"You kidding? That was amazing, we definitely hit the jackpot. Twenty-five freaking Golden Bolts! Twenty-five! Awesome call deciding to come here!" The Lombax cheered happily

"I definitely agree, I do not think we would have gotten even remotely half as lucky had we done something or gone somewhere else. Awesome call indeed." Clank added happily, a short silent pause was followed before Aphelion finally responded.

"That is great to hear, thank you for the complements Ratchet, Clank." Aphelion responded, clearly trying to hide any happiness in her voice and failing quite badly.

"Aphelion, set a course for home."

"Already have and heading there now."

"Thanks. Come on Clank, let's check out the thingy we found." Ratchet suggests looking at Clank with a big smile, Clank nodding with a smile of his own, the little robot also curious and partially excited to see what the mechanism they found does.

"Of course. I have a feeling this should not be too hard to figure out."

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 **And there we go, the first chapter. I really hope you enjoyed it, I just got into the Ratchet & Clank fandom around a week ago, and used the wikis to find out as much as I could about the characters and to decide what weapons for them to use. As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! See you next time and take care everybody!**


	2. Mistake!

**Chapter 2: Mistake~!**

 **Well here's the second chapter, I hope you enjoy this one as well! I've also decided to reply to my reviews so if you want you can skip that (unless you reviewed of which then I guess you can read my reply)**

 **1\. Crescent Moon – Jessica151294: Thank you for your compliments! They mean a lot to me, and I have already drowned in the entire fandom of the amazing series that is Ratchet & Clank, I don't regret it one bit!**

 **Ratchet & Clank belong to Insomniac, while this story belongs to me.**

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"Could you repeat that?"

Clank stared at Ratchet confusedly, who looked back at him with a just as confused look. He and Ratchet had been inspecting the weapon at a leisurely pace as Aphelion was giving them a nice smooth casual ride back, at first the two thought it should be easy to figure out what it does, and Ratchet just tried to fire it into outer-space through a hatch at an asteroid, and a beam of light hit the asteroid, but nothing happened. So the two brought it back in and began really inspecting it, though didn't find any hints. That is, until Ratchet recalled a sentence that was written on the machine near it's foldable stock, though the phrase written on it confused both to no end.

"That's, what it says... 'Squishifyer Squishifyer Perfect Robot Defiler'... Gonna guess you have no clue what it means?" Ratchet asks confusedly Clank shaking his head and looking at the floor, Ratchet looking at the weapon with a 'Damn' being uttered from his lips. A moment of silence followed as both thought of some kind of way to figure out what the contraption does before an idea hit Clank.

"Hmm, let us think about Dr. Nefarious himself... Maybe recalling known facts about him would help in our investigation." Clank suggests, Ratchet nodding before immediately opening his mouth, the Lombax already having plenty of things to say.

"He's bat shit crazy, he hates organics, which he calls squishies, is a selfish prick, thinks an organic's simple existence is disgusting, he's loud and annoying, and thinks that any robot that cares about an organic or wants to be one has been 'ruined and can never be saved', and then there's also-"

"Wait." Clank says as his eyes widened in realization, Ratchet stared at his friend in curiosity before voicing his question.

"Figured something out?" He asked, watching as Clank paced around a little and began counting something off with his fingers.

"I do believe I have." He says after a moment of silence and looks over at Ratchet.

"Dr. Nefarious calls organics squishies, and if he thinks that any robot that likes organics or want to be organic are defiled and can't be saved... Then the device called Squishifyer Squishifyer Perfect Robot Defiler must mean that it is a machine that-"

"That turns robots into organics! Holy crap!" Ratchet exclaims in surprise at the knowledge before looking at the device in excitement.

"Say Clank! Want to test it?" Ratchet asks curiously as he checks around the weapon for a certain option before grinning as he found it. "It has a reverser option, so we can revert whatever we turn back to what it was." With that Clank looked at the floor in thought before looking at Ratchet.

"Are we even sure that it works?" Clank asks, Ratchet thinking before something clicked

"Some of the creatures that were in the base looked like organic versions of the robots that were also there. So that should be proof." Ratchet says happily, already getting excited to try out the machine. Clank however was not about to go up to some random robot and turn him or her into an organic, so the robot thought of anything that they could turn before it clicked.

"Try it on me."

With that one suggestion, all of Ratchet's excitement dropped to negative one hundred, and the Lombax stared at his friend with wide eyes, before he suddenly went stiff.

"No." He simply stated.

"Ratchet-"

"No!" Ratchet then exclaimed. "I am not testing this thing on you, I'm not and there's no way you can get me to! I am not going to lose you again! Not again, I'm not taking that chance **all over again**!" The Lombax said quickly, and Clank noticed a distant foggy look in his friend's eyes and realized what was happening.

Ratchet was having a flashback.

"Ratchet, Ratchet!" Clank shouted grabbing his friend's leg, who paused up and looked around quickly before looking down at Clank, who only looked up at Ratchet.

"It is okay Ratchet, I am right here, I will not be going anywhere I promise. Look friend, I am here." He says softly, Ratchet's breathing slowly relaxing -he didn't even notice that it had sped up- before the Lombax took a deep breath.

"Y-you're right pal... I'm sorry..." He says holding the weapon in one hand and using the other to hug Clank, who returned the hug before they broke it, taking a couple of steps back and Ratchet activated the weapon, which slowly started to glow to signify that it was on.

"Are you sure about this Clank?" Ratchet asks, Clank giving a sharp nod, Ratchet giving an unsure one and was about to fire the gun before he noticed something on the weapon prompting the Lombax to tilt the weapon and check for a better look.

"Hey... Wait Clank." Clank tilted his head and walked over to his friend to see why he had suddenly decided to stop.

"What is the matter Ratchet?" Named Lombax stared at something on the weapon before lowering it for Clank to see.

"It says we can choose what we want to turn robots into." He informs curiously as he and Clank looked at the back of the weapon, where a blue screen was, the screen showing a silhouette of a humanoid being, both Clank and Ratchet stared at it for a moment before the organic being pressed a button to shift to a different organic being, only for the machine to state that there wasn't any DNA samples to have another choice.

"Oh... Darn..." Ratchet sighs before something clicked. "Idea!" Clank tilted his head as he looked at Ratchet curiously; the Lombax put the weapon down and stood up with his hands on his hips, staring down at Clank with a happy look in his eyes.

"I, Ratchet, want you, Clank, to become a Lombax!" He proudly declared. Clank stared at him for a moment before scratching the top of his head.

"May I inquire why?" Ratchet blinked before dropping one hand off his hip, as he looked down at his partner.

"Because really, I don't fancy the idea of going up to some random guy and being like 'hi, can I take your DNA to make my robot friend a member of your species?' cause that'll go so well... That's one, two, I honestly can't see you becoming anything else. Besides, I'm the only one here willing to give some of my DNA to test this thing out, and do you really want to be the same species as the galaxy's quote on quote, 'hero'?" Ratchet asks looking at Clank with an expectant expression; the robot didn't even have to think for long before giving a nod.

"I see your point." Ratchet grinned big as he plucked some fur off his arm, looking at the screen's instructions and pressing a button that changed the screen and opened a small hatch on the side, the Lombax dropping the bits of fur into the hatch and closing it, looking at the screen excitedly as he waited for it to process the DNA. Ratchet's face then suddenly went blank as the screen said there wasn't enough DNA for the option of the second species choice.

"You gotta be kidding…" The Lombax says dully before rolling his eyes and looking at Clank. "Hold this buddy?" He asks, Clank nodding and taking the weapon from his friend, who walked over to the weapons cache and, grabbing one Shredder Claw, cut his wrist just light enough to bleed, the male flinching at the pain with a grunt, before putting the Shredder Claw back with it's partner.

"Ratchet!" Clank says in surprise as he watched his friend harm himself, the Lombax then headed over and held out a hand for the weapon in Clank's possession.

"What? I don't want to rip off a lot of fur just for it to not be enough." Ratchet explains, Clank staring at his friend with a cross of emotions before handing him the SSPRD, the Lombax then held his wound over the hatch, squeezing his hand to drop more blood into the hatch, continuing to do so with Clank watching intently until the tiny hatch was filled, Ratchet nodding in satisfaction before closing it.

"Are you sure you did not over fill the hatch? We do not know what might happen if it overloads…" The small robot asks, Ratchet looking at Clank before shrugging and taking a couple of steps back.

"I'm not worried." He states confidently as he name's the species choice on the SSPRD 'Lombax' and began powering it up. Clank taking a deep breath and readying himself to take the beam, Ratchet smiling a little bigger, though in his head, the Lombax was panicking hard, alarms of all kinds going off in his head as he was worried about what would happen to Clank if something went wrong, what could happen to both Clank and Aphelion. Before he shook his head and voiced a line of reassurance to both himself and Clank.

"With everything we've been through… What's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

Everything was black, he could hear wind blowing in his ears, pushing trees and bustling bushes, he could feel the grass against his face, and just about every other part of his body and smell the fresh air and dirt. But he couldn't remember what happened, or how he got there, he groaned, slowly opening his eyes and raising his face from the ground to glance around.

"What the hell…?" Ratchet asks dazed as he looks around with confusion in his eyes, the Lombax trying, and failing to get on his feet, he then looked around again dizzily before pushing himself to his knees

"Clank?! Aphelion?!" He calls with fear in his voice. Looking around frantically but slowly as to not disturb his already shaky balance, multiple thoughts were going through the organic's head, about both his friends; how they could be injured, broken, damaged, or worse. Each thought only making Ratchet more and more frantic before he paused as a single realization nearly made his heart stop.

The SSPRD was fired **at** **Clank** , while they were **inside Aphelion** , and now **he's on a random planet**.

Immediately so many alarms and emotions ran through him that it was almost unbearable, anger at himself, frustration with himself, fear and worry for both Aphelion and Clank, the latter of which he shot an unknown weapon at.

" _What the hell was I thinking?_ " He thought in panic, mentally berating himself brutally before forcing himself to stand, then falling flat onto the dirt flat on his face with a loud yelp of pain. There he lay cursing quietly before taking a deep breath and looking at his legs, his eyes widening as a large piece of wood was stuck in his right leg. Ratchet stared at the overly large splinter that was nearly as big as his hand that was stuck in his leg before looking around frantically.

" **Clank! Aphelion! Clank!** " He yelled as loud as he could, waiting for any sounds of confirmation from any of the names he had called, when no answer came, the Lombax's eyes began to tear up before his ears raised at a groan, one that sounded familiar.

" _Clank._ " Suddenly, Ratchet felt adrenaline shoot through his body as he turned to his wound and grabbed the shrapnel, then with a low growl, he ripped the intruder from his body, letting out a small shout before gritting his teeth as his leg bled openly over the forest floor from the fairly sized hole in its side. Ignoring the pain signals coming from his leg, Ratchet got up on his feet and quickly limped as fast as he could in the direction of the groan, his mind hoping to everything in existence that it was at least, one of the two he cared about more than anything else.

Ratchet arrived at the source of the groan and froze in place, staring at the form in front of him, the form whose characteristics defined it as a Lombax, a male one with the same body-type as his in every fashion, from height, to how much fur was on him. The only difference was that this Lombax had dark grey fur and white stripes. But Ratchet wasn't confused, not one bit, more surprised, but not confused, he already knew who this was at first sight.

"Clank!" He calls limping down to his friend before he suddenly tripped and fell, his injured leg screaming at him as soon as he hit the ground.

"*Groan* Damn it!" He exclaims before growling to hold the pain in and looking behind him at what he had tripped over, only for his eyes to widen in confusion and his mouth to drop in shock, for right there in front of his eyes, was another Lombax.

" _What the what…?_ " Ratchet thinks as he examines this Lombax, realizing; that it was a she, with the same height as him, but her fur was a pitch-black color with neon blue stripes. At first sight, a name immediately came up in Ratchet's mind, but it was ludicrous, the mechanism exploded sure, but it's not like it was a big boom.

" _So there's no way it can be…_ " He thinks before getting up with a grunt and limping over to Clank, he then got on his knees and checked for a pulse, sighing in relief when he felt one. The Lombax then began to gently shake his friend.

"Clank… Clank wake up…" He says softly while shaking the grey Lombax's body gently, soon getting a loud groan before the fellow Lombax's eyes slowly opened. Ratchet began to smile before his friend suddenly yelped loudly and held his chest, letting out cough after cough as he felt a hard rhythmic 'thump' in the middle of his chest.

Ratchet watched helplessly, not knowing how to help his friend get through his first conscious heartbeats and breaths, and feeling quite angry with himself knowing he was the whole reason the former-robot was going through this in the first place. This continued for a couple of moments before Clank finally stopped clutching his chest and laid there panting heavily, Ratchet staring at his friend with worry and tears threatening to fall from his eyes before he realized something and began taking off his holo-flux suit, being extremely careful once he had to take the suit off his injured leg. Once the Lombax had it off and was only in his pilot suit, he began putting the holo-flux suit on the panting Clank, who only opened his eyes to watch Ratchet dress him carefully. Once done, Ratchet took a look over his friend, and was happy to see that the suit fit the now fellow Lombax just as well as it fit him before reaching down and pressing a button that changed the holo-flux's blue colors to the green of the Ectoflux. Satisfied, he glanced around a little bit more out of instinct before looking at Clank's face and getting lost in the grey Lombax's eyes, which were such a vibrant green that they almost glowed.

"H-how… How are you feeling buddy?" He asks after finding his way back from his best friend's eyes with a tint of red on his cheeks, Clank blinking before opening his mouth, however, only noises and sounds came from his mouth instead of words, which confused the grey Lombax to almost no end as proven by his expression going from surprise, to confusion, to frustration, then sadness. Ratchet's eyes widening as he watched Clank become overwhelmed with emotions, the grey Lombax's crying expression quickly switching to one of extreme fear, as the now organic male began to flop about and try to stand or do anything while making more noises.

"Whoa hey Clank! Try to rela- argh!" Ratchet says trying to calm his friend down before grabbing his injured leg and hissing loudly, he had completely forgotten his injury and accidentally brushed it against the ground. Clank's ears instinctively moving slightly to hear Ratchet's hiss before he looked over to see the yellow and brown Lombax's injury.

"Ah, Aaheeh!" Clank called worriedly, his eyes tearing up slightly from worry as he tried to roll towards his friend, and successfully did so, before the injured Lombax held him in place.

"I-it's fine, I-I've gotten worse, remember?" Ratchet asks closing one eye and pushing past his pain, reaching a hand down and wiping Clank's tears for him, the grey Lombax blinking in surprise before blinking the rest of his tears away.

"Alright buddy, as you can see I'm uh… I'm kinda incapacitated so I'm going to teach you to stand and walk okay?" Ratchet asks before adding. "Speech will be later when we're safe." Clank thought about it for a moment before giving a nod, Ratchet grinning big in thanks before beginning his instructions.

"Alright first roll to your stomach." He instructs, Clank inching his body around for a couple of minutes to feel what's where before rolling on his stomach, Ratchet nodding with a "good" at this rate, and with Clank being well, Clank, they should be up and going in no time.

"So first you want to put your hands on the floor right next to your shoulders." The Lombax continued, Clank doing as instructed before he realized something, his body still worked relatively the same as his robotic body, the only difference is the receptors that allows him to feel his environment are now placed all over his body instead of at specific points. That, and his mindset, with this realization, Clank quickly pushed himself up to his knees, surprising Ratchet, who watched with wide eyes as his friend then slowly got to his feet, shaking around slightly, but standing none the less.

"Well I'll be damned, nice job Clank." Ratchet says with a big smile, Clank looking at the Lombax with a slightly surprised look before smiling big with a small blush. He had never experienced emotions this strongly, so when he was happy, he was **really** happy. Clank then looked at his tail curiously before remembering Ratchet stating that tails 'helped balance' so the grey Lombax took a chance and began walking carefully towards Ratchet, actually successful in doing so has he made his way to his friend.

Ratchet watched Clank intently before the yellow Lombax pulled himself to his feet, grunting as he kept weight off his right leg and looked at his best friend.

"Great to see you got the hang of it quick." He says pausing as he noticed Clank staring at his lips and snapping his fingers.

"Clank buddy? You there?" He asks, Clank still staring at the fellow Lombax's lips before looking down and moving his own lips around, figuring out how his mouth moves, from his own lips, to his tongue, then began to make sounds while moving his lips and tongue around to see what movement made what sound. Ratchet watched all of this with confusion at first, before quickly realizing that Clank was learning how to speak. He was honestly impressed at Clank's learning speed, then again, it was Clank that he was with, what did he expect? Ratchet watched his friend figure out how to speak for a moment longer before turning and limping over to the second Lombax on the floor, Clank blinking as he noticed Ratchet limping off and following him.

"R-Ratchet?" Clank asks brokenly, staring down in frustration at his inability to speak as fluently as he normally does, before pausing as he looked at the same female Lombax that Ratchet found, the same one that Ratchet was currently trying –and having a hard time- picking up, Clank blinking before walking over and trying his best to help.

"Who is she?" Clank asks, surprised and happy to hear it come out clearly, Ratchet blinking as he noticed that his friend's voice was different. It was lighter, more expressive, and even sounded a little like… Him? It was hard to explain, Clank's voice was still there for sure, but it sounded younger, no longer semi-robotic, even coming off as kind of… Cute, in a way?

"…I don't know…" Ratchet says after a moment of silence before limping off while carrying the female Lombax, Clank helping as they set off in a random direction. They continued going until Ratchet noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and sighed in both relief and frustration.

"Well at least we know it works…" He mutters, Clank looking at him questioningly before the yellow Lombax looked at his friend.

"Hold her for a moment?" he asks before letting go and limping off, Clank yelping a little as he suddenly took on the full weight of the unconscious female, looking at Ratchet and huffing with a pouty expression. Ratchet approached a giant cube made of jell, and peered inside to see all of the weapons and suits that was in Aphelion were all stuck inside, luckily, the Lombax's Omniwrench Millennium 12, the Shredder Claws, the Incinerator, and the Combuster were sticking out just enough for him to grab them. Ignoring his leg once more, Ratchet grabbed the weapons, and one by one, pulled them out and placed them in the inter-dimensional toolbox in his belt. The yellow Lombax nodded in satisfaction before noticing another of his suits that he could pull out, the one he wore when he and Clank faced the Prog twins. Remembering the nude female Lombax with a small blush, he took the suit out and placed it on the floor. Ratchet then hugged the jell, the light on his belt lighting up brightly, so bright in fact, that even from a small distance Clank –who was practicing his speech more- closed his eyes and let out a yelp. After the light disappeared, the grey Lombax began trekking over while carrying the black and blue Lombax, stopping when he saw Ratchet limping back with a big smile and the outfit on his shoulder.

"Well… We may have to wait a month for the jell to dissolve… But at least we still have all our weapons…" He explains with a weak chuckle, Clank tilting his head before remembering the other male's wound, and looking around.

"I saw one, where…. Where is… There!" Clank says, his speech quality finally returning to normal, the grey and white Lombax pointed over to a nearby rock hill, one with a cave in the side.

"H-hey buddy… You can t-talk again normally ag-… Again…" Ratchet says in-between grunts of pain, Clank quickly going over and was about to put Ratchet's arm around his shoulder on top of the unconscious female Lombax's, but Ratchet used a hand to stop him.

"You're already carrying one Lombax, don't need you tiring yourself out carrying me as well…" He says surprisingly smoothly before limping in the direction Clank had pointed in. Clank followed watching Ratchet carefully, it was weird for the grey Lombax, everything seemed smaller, even Ratchet, who was originally heads taller than him, was now the same height. Along with all these senses that are bombarding him and the emotions running through him as strongly as they were, Clank would've almost felt overwhelmed. What kept him from collapsing so far though, was his entire mind being too focused on the injured Ratchet to process everything else that was suddenly happening to him.

Soon the two finally made it to the cave, Ratchet pulling out the Combustor and firing a shot into the cave, watching it fly down and light everything up around it as it made its way to the back. Once it hit the back of the cave –which wasn't really all that far from the entrance, just deep enough to keep the three completely hidden without worry of being seen easily.

Clank quickly nudged Ratchet to the back of the cave, where the yellow Lombax sat down with a huge groan, Ratchet took a deep breath before looking at Clank, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness.

"Hey Clank… C-could you do me a favor or two…?" He asks, Clank –who was setting the female Lombax down gently- looking over at his best friend and walking over.

"What is it that you need Ratchet?" Clank asks worriedly, Ratchet grunting in pain before taking a deep breath.

"For the first one… On my back, press the green pendent, it should take out some medical supplies…" The yellow Lombax informs, Clank's eyes widening as he stared at his friend in surprise.

"When I asked you to start bringing medical supplies with you on our outings… You, actually listened?" He asked in disbelief, Ratchet looking up at his best friend and giving a nod and 'yeah'. Clank suddenly felt multiple emotions shoot through him, all of them making the grey Lombax giddy and excited before he suddenly enveloped Ratchet in a big hug, the named individual pausing and staring with a surprised look in front of him.

"Uhh…"

"I am sorry, I am currently experiencing a storm of emotions right now." Clank informs in a giddy happy drenched voice as he tightens his hug a little with a deep blush, Ratchet still staring off for a moment before hugging his friend back with his own cheeks turning a slight shade of red, all the alarms that he didn't notice were still going off in his head finally dying down and fading away, the injured Lombax surprisingly enjoying the hug.

" _Soft…_ " Was the thought that went through Ratchet's head as he held the hug with his giddy emotion controlled friend, he had never really hugged another member of his species, or even any organics on that level -save for maybe Talwin- and Clank's fur was both soft and warm, and the hug itself felt warm and comfortable. After a moment, they both broke the hug, Clank's face still beat red, and even Ratchet's having a small tint of red on his cheeks, the uninjured Lombax then went and pressed the pendant on Ratchet's back, a bright flash followed, before a small set of medical supplies appeared in front of both Lombaxes. Clank then set to work, already knowing a thousand different medical protocols from when he was a robot, and quickly cleaned and patched up Ratchet's leg, then sat next to the male Lombax. Both took a deep breath to relax themselves before Clank looked over to Ratchet.

"May I inquire as to what the second favor might be?" Clank asks with a cute curious tilt of his head, his ears flopping slightly to only add to the cuteness, Ratchet staring with slightly wide eyes at the unexpected display of cuteness from his friend before clearing his throat and looking straight ahead with the tiniest blush on his face.

"Could you please put this on our sleeping beauty over there?" The yellow Lombax asks pointing at the suit on the floor, then at the still unconscious female Lombax, Clank looking down at the outfit and staring at it for a moment before looking at the female Lombax.

"Okay." He simply says before getting up, grabbing the suit, and heading over to the black and blue Lombax, who neither could see in the dark except for the neon blue stripes cause of the pitch-black fur. Clank then put the pants and boots on, before having trouble trying to figure out how to put the upper suit on. The grey Lombax then looked behind him at Ratchet, who was staring off at the entrance of the cave with a distant look in his eyes. Clank studied how Ratchet was wearing his shirt and finally figured out how to put it on the female Lombax, quickly doing so, then finally putting the gloves on. Once done, Clank stood up and looked over the female Lombax with curiosity, before she suddenly groaned and began waking up, Clank yelping loudly and backing all the way to Ratchet's side, who stared intently at the waking Lombax.

"Ugh…" Came the groan from the female, her voice being familiar to both the male Lombax's, Clank's eyes widening while Ratchet's expression didn't waver, soon the female Lombax opened her eyes to reveal amber eyes as she looked at the two with confusion.

"Wa.. Waaheeh… Haaeh..?" Came the noises from her mouth before she froze and began looking at herself, Clank's eyes widening while Ratchet just sighed.

"It's okay, we're safe… It's going to be hard to explain, but, I'm going to start by saying I'm sorry… Aphelion."

* * *

 **And there, the second chapter is done, the reason so soon? I had a head start a couple of days ago, when I finished the first chapter, though now it'll take longer before I post the second one. On another note, I noticed no one did a story where Aphelion was turned organic (at least nothing that I found when I searched online) let alone have her turned into a Lombax, and after seeing Airbax on Deviantart, I knew I wanted to make a Lombax Clank story, so I decided to make this a story with not just Lombax Clank, but an organic Lombax Aphelion as well!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism is always appreciated, see you next time and take care, everybody**


	3. All The Learning

**Chapter 3: All The Learning.**

 **Here's the third chapter! I hope you enjoy!**

 **Ratchet & Clank belong to Insomniac while this story belongs to me.**

* * *

"Aphelion?!" Clank asks staring at the named organic being before looking at Ratchet with surprise, the yellow Lombax staring at the female with a calm expression. Aphelion in the meantime stared at her hands, looking over her entire body intently and carefully, Ratchet continuing to stare at her before he looked away with a sigh, while Clank was currently trying to situate his out of control emotions.

"I'm not sure how... But Clank was right in overloading the SSPRD… I guess it exploded and the blast was big enough to envelop and transform you as well…" Ratchet explains continuing to look away, Clank looking down at his friend and seething with anger.

"I- **I told you to make sure you did not overload the device, why are you so insistent on not listening to instructions?!** " Clank yelled in anger, Ratchet flinching at the sudden change of emotions and the amount of it in his friend's voice before suddenly hearing the grey Lombax take a deep breath, Ratchet looking over to see Clank sit down with his back turned to the yellow Lombax. Seeing that hurt him a bit inside, but Ratchet understood Clank's anger, as he was still quite angry with himself as well. Aphelion watching the two silently for a moment before shuffling a bit to try and move, then making another sound, getting both males to look at her with confusion before Ratchet glanced at Clank and quickly looked away.

"C-… Could you teach her?" Ratchet asks a in a slightly shy voice, not exactly wanting to unleash Clank's anger on him once again –which really surprised him-, though the grey Lombax seemed to have calmed down as he got up.

"I was already intending to." Clank responds shuffling over to Aphelion's side to help teach her how to speak, deciding to teach her the same way he learned earlier, the yellow Lombax watched the two silently, thoughts of different kinds going through his head about the two before he stood up, and began heading over to the entrance of the cave, the sounds of his footsteps prompting both new Lombaxes to look over at the leaving Lombax.

"Ratchet-"

"I'm not going to leave the cave... Sheesh…" Ratchet interrupts as he limps to the entrance, tapping his belt and pulling out the Combuster which he held tightly in his hands, finger not on the trigger just yet. Clank huffed with a pouty expression again, he always hated it when Ratchet got even a little careless, and all these emotions that he was still learning to control certainly didn't help with reassuring himself that the leading Lombax would be fine. After a moment Clank shrugged off his frustration before returning his attention to Aphelion, who was practicing doing the things that Clank had already taught her, and testing out some sounds as she practiced.

Meanwhile outside Ratchet looked around, surveying the area carefully for any sight of civilization or threats, sighing as he couldn't see anything and noticed that the sky was already darkening.

" _Damn… Not even enough time to at least safely check the area, looks like we're going to have to stay here._ " The Lombax thinks as he glances around before looking back into the cave.

" _Clank's really angry…_ " He thought randomly, looking at the floor in self-disappointment before pausing, then shaking his head with a slightly surprised look.

" _Wait. Why am I acting like this? It's not like he's_ _ **that**_ _angry, it's just he can't control his emotions._ " The Lombax mentally explains before looking out and sighing.

" _And yet I still feel guilty as hell…_ " He finalizes as he stares out into the darkening forest, the male getting lost in his thoughts again before jumping in surprise as he heard a loud shout from inside the cave, he then turned and bolted inside as fast as he could, or as fast as he could with an injured leg, his hand instinctively tightening around the handle of the Combuster, and his finger even going on the trigger just in case.

"I heard the scream! What happened?!" Ratchet asks as he stops and sees Clank wrapping Aphelion's arm in a cast, the grey Lombax glancing over at the yellow one before resuming what he was doing.

"Her arm is fractured, I am assuming that it was caused by our landing." Clank explains, Ratchet sighing in both relief and frustration, relief that it wasn't anything **that** serious, and in frustration as his recklessness and dismissiveness of his cautious thoughts back when Clank and Aphelion were still in-organic caused someone else to get hurt.

"Next time wait until we are back at home before blowing up instead of doing it inside me will you?" Aphelion asks giving Ratchet a pouty glare, the yellow Lombax blinking in pure shock at how fluently Aphelion was speaking, her voice also sounding a bit younger, and no longer robotic for sure. Like Clank's voice, it was definitely cute.

"Um…"

"Oh yes, Aphelion is quite the quick learner, she got speaking controlled a lot quicker than I was able to."

"And I still can't believe you did that, I'd thought you'd know better considering what we've all done, but apparently I was wrong." Aphelion says sharply, both Clank and Ratchet noticing that she still had her accent, Clank smiled at Aphelion before looking at Ratchet and chuckling at his expression, though his chuckle made Ratchet shiver again, which made Clank straight up burst into laughter.

" _Of all things he got to keep, his damn creepy chuckle?! Where's my luck, out the freaking window?!_ " Ratchet mentally asks as he stared at Clank, who couldn't control, let alone, stop his laughter as he rolled on the floor and began gasping for air between laughs.

"Yeah I hope you choke!" Ratchet says glaring down at his friend, his words only making Aphelion giggle, and Clank laugh a little more before they both calmed down.

"I apologize Ratchet… As we know, I can not control my emotions completely." Clank says smiling quite big as he calmed down, Aphelion letting out another giggle before she finally stopped as well. Ratchet huffed at the two before sitting down.

"Well it looks like we're staying here tonight." Ratchet says looking around out of instinct again before tapping his belt, and switching out the Combuster, for the Incinerator, which made Clank and Aphelion look at the yellow Lombax in curiosity.

"Why the Incinerator?" Aphelion asks, Ratchet glancing at her and smirking before looking at the weapon and turning it on.

"Cause we're going to need some kind of heat if we don't want to freeze in our sleep." Ratchet says in an "obviously" tone, which made Aphelion pout at the Lombax.

"Sorry for asking." She states with a huff, Ratchet raising an eyebrow at the female Lombax with a grin before putting the power on the Incinerator so low, that all that came out was a flame the size of a small campfire.

"I suggest we enjoy this while we have the available time, after all we do not want to let other organisms know we are here, if there are any organisms in the surrounding environment that is." Clank says scooting closer to the flame, though the grey Lombax accidentally scooted too close and yelped as he felt a burning pain in his hands and backed up. Ratchet immediately reaching over and grabbing Clank's wrist.

"Let me see." He quickly says as he holds Clank's hands close to his face, taking off the gloves and inspecting the grey Lombax's hands carefully, Aphelion staring at the two curiously as she also scooted a little close to the fire to feel it's heat –though wasn't as close as Clank-. Clank on the other hand watched Ratchet with a little surprise, he never really was used to it when the yellow Lombax suddenly acted his age like he was at the moment, and the grey Lombax couldn't help but blush as the physical distance between the two was so little, the grey Lombax could slightly feel the yellow's breath brushing against the fur on his hand.

"It doesn't look bad, you'll be fine. Next time be more careful ya dingus." Ratchet says putting Clank's gloves back on and looking up at fellow Lombax with a smile, which soon disappeared as he noticed the grey Lombax's blush and suddenly grinned.

"Haha, you're face is red, what's wrong? Did you like the physical contact?" Ratchet teases and asks as he lets go and sits by the fire with another laugh, both Aphelion, and Clank tilting their heads in confusion.

"M-my face? But why?" Clank asks in confusion, putting a finger on his chin as he thought about the different possible reasons. Ratchet grinning big like an idiot, before counting the reasons off the top of his head.

"Well let's see, you could be sick or have a fever… But there's like a ton of other things that happen to you if you have a fever, could be due to shyness, or because you're ashamed, there's also embarrassment-" Ratchet explained before cutting himself off and staring at Clank, who still had red cheeks, the grey Lombax tilting his head at his friend's odd expression.

"Y-yes?" He asks, Ratchet suddenly grinning mischievously and getting up, the yellow Lombax walking over to Clank and getting in his personal space.

"Clank~… Are you embarrassed of me being this close?" Ratchet asks as he stares intently into Clank's eyes, the grey Lombax staring back at his friend with wide eyes.

"No…" Clank refuses looking away from Ratchet's eyes awkwardly, the mischievous Lombax raising an eyebrow before inching even closer to the grey Lombax.

"Then… Do you like hugs and physical contact?" Ratchet asks, Clank refusing to look the yellow Lombax in the eye as he continued to stare at the cave wall behind him.

"… O-oh my…" He muttered in a quiet, frustrated and shaky voice. He wondered why he was suddenly having such a hard time controlling himself, why he was acting like such a nervous wreck? It baffled him to no end at his lack of control over his emotions and actions, and it was at this moment that Clank mentally cursed his organic form for the first time. Ratchet then fell back laughing out loudly, making Clank looked down at the other male and make a noise of frustration as his face reddened more.

"If you-… if you like hugs you could've- could've just said so! I didn't know you- you were all touchy feely like that C-Clank! B-but then again I guess it makes sense!" Ratchet exclaims grabbing his stomach and letting out laugh after laugh, and now it was Clank's turn to fume in both embarrassment and anger.

"I-I do not!" He protested loudly, making Aphelion smile all over again and Ratchet laugh more.

"You can't hide it buddy! Re- red cheeks say all!" Ratchet informs with more laughs, Clank burying his face in his hands.

"W-what an unusual feature organics have!" He whines as even Aphelion began laughing as well, Ratchet soon stopping and getting back onto his feet and going over to Clank, the yellow Lombax then whispered something into the other's ear, grey Lombax looking at him in both surprise and confusion before listening more, sighing, and finally smiling, his red face finally turning back to normal. All of this was confusing Aphelion to know end, but a part of her told her not to trust what was happening in front of her eyes.

"What are you two planning?" She asks, Ratchet grinning mischievously as he stalked towards her, Clank rolling his eyes before calming walking towards her with a smile, once in front of her, Clank glanced back at the stalking grinning Ratchet before bending down onto a knee and looking at Aphelion.

"Ratchet and I were simply pondering on how ticklish you might be." Clank simply explains with a gentle smile, Aphelion tilting her head in confusion.

"Ticklish?" The black Lombax asked, Clank giving a nod as he kept his calm composure, while Ratchet was in the background was stalking around waiting for the perfect chance to pounce.

"To tickle someone, is to rub them in certain spots that would make them laugh uncontrollably, and is a common practice among pranksters who also happen to be acquainted friends." Clank explains with a small tilt of his head. "How ticklish someone is, is how easy it is to make that person laugh uncontrollably." It took a moment, one of silence, with Clank sitting there and smiling gently, and Ratchet now next to the grey Lombax with a mischievous smirk, both males staring at Aphelion, who was thinking about all the information she just got from Clank, before her eyes widened, and she stared at the two male Lombaxes with fear in her eyes. The black and blue Lombax then started shuffling away from the two towards the back of the cave, Ratchet and Clank simply following her with the same expressions.

"No…"

"Yep."

"You wouldn't…"

"On the contrary Aphelion."

"Don't!"

For the majority of the night, the cave was filled with screams, laughter, death threats, and tons enjoyment for the three Lombaxes.

* * *

Morning came, and with it, the sounds of gunfire and cheers.

"Great shot Aphelion! What is that, only after your twentieth try, and with a fractured arm?!" Ratchet asks raising his hand and giving Aphelion a high five.

"Yes, I'm quite exited at how quickly I'm getting the hang of this!" The female Lombax cheered happily in response. When they had awoken, the two males had immediately gotten to teaching Aphelion how to get the hang of living in an organic body, and though it took **way** longer to teach the female Lombax than it did to teach Clank, she soon got the hang of it, and could move her body as well as Clank did by the end of the previous day, while the grey Lombax now had as much ease controlling his body as Ratchet has. Afterwards, the leader of the three members of an endangered species had brought the other two outside to teach them how to use weapons –or at least, the four that they could use as the others were still stuck in jell-, giving the Combuster to Aphelion, Clank getting the Shredder Claws which he was currently rewiring for his own use and Ratchet was perfectly fine with just using his Omniwrench as his weapon and not using the Incinerator to conserve it's ammo for night/meal time purposes. He instead just made sure to teach the black and blue Lombax how to aim her gun, which she was surprisingly good at doing, as she had finally started hitting her targets on her twentieth try despite having to aim and fire with one hand, granted it wasn't a bulls eye, but it was definitely better than missing completely.

"Hey Clank! You see this? Aphelion's aim is pretty incredible." Aphelion blushed ever so slightly at the compliment before continuing to practice what Ratchet had taught her, the named male Lombax looking over to his friend when he heard no response, Clank in the meantime, was focusing intensely on fixing the twin melee weapons in his possession, Ratchet raising an eyebrow before heading over with a smirk.

" _The size of the organic form's hands are much bigger than my original body's, but if I keep doing this at the pace I am, I should ideally be able to finish the repairs in due time._ " Clank thought calmly as he continued to reattach unplugged wires and check on other parts to make sure they were in working condition, Ratchet soon standing behind him and watching curiously, keeping silent as he let his best friend work. The young adult looking over at Aphelion again to see her practicing the reload process before looking down at Clank to see him taking a deep breath and staring off into the forest.

"What's wrong pal?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head, moving from behind the grey Lombax and sitting next to him cross-legged on the grass, Clank blinking out of his thoughts before looking at the other Lombax.

"There is nothing wrong, I am simply giving my mind and my body time to relax, and ponder about other thoughts and events." Clank explains smiling at his closest friend before looking down at his hands.

"I have noticed that if I stay focused and tense the muscles in any part of my body for too long, they will begin to falter and be unable to carry out commands efficiently. I have also taken notice that it is a similar case for my mind, if I do not take the time to let my mind relax, I can, if I remember the right term, 'stress my self out' and lose all focus in a quick moment." Clank explains looking back at Ratchet with a gentler smile.

"Figured that out yourself did ya?" Ratchet asked while staring at the recently turned Lombax with awe in his eyes. In such a short time, Clank had already figured out quite a lot about organic bodies, it honestly impressed him. While some of it he guessed was easier to figure out, some things; like stressing a limb or the mind out, would normally be things robots didn't know about, so seeing his best friend figure it out so quickly that; not only can it happen, but that there is a way to stop it from happening, definitely made him feel a bit proud to be the best friend of the grey Lombax.

"The act of putting too much strain on my organic parts? Why yes, but the act of putting strain on my mind? I partially figured that out now." Clank informs looking down at one of the Shredder Claws on his lap and picking it up to give it one last inspection. Ratchet tilted his head in confusion, partially figured that out now? What did that mean? Did it mean the grey Lombax hasn't completely figured it out, or that he had figured some of it out when he was still a robot? He continued to think about what his friend meant before looking at the other young-adult when he put the Shredder Claw back down.

"I partially figured it out back when I was a robot, as I would often see you go through the problem quite often whenever we are working part-time jobs, or during our endeavors." Clank explains glancing at Ratchet before picking up the other Shredder Claw, Ratchet nodding in understanding before chuckling at how he had thought that was the case.

"You know buddy I'm curious, why did you ask for the Shredder Claws specifically?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head, Clank blinking before putting down the second claw and looking at his brother-figure.

"Do you recall when you were framed and mind controlled by Klunk, and I had to save you?" Clank asked, Ratchet looking up in thought before looking at the grey Lombax and giving a nod.

"Yeah, I honestly don't think I could forget, even if I tried." Ratchet responded, Clank smiling big as he held up his hands and made some chopping motions.

"I had to learn multiple different fighting styles in order to combat Klunk and his minions. So I have figured that using a weapon that would utilize those techniques would help me get a head start in learning to fight in this body." The former robot finished with a proud smile, the yellow Lombax grinning big before he then remembered something he wanted to try out, a new upgrade for his Omniwrench, and was about to pull the named weapon out from his belt to ask his metaphorical brother a question before both Lombaxes heard a shriek, one from their female member.

"Aphelion!?" They both called worriedly as Ratchet shot to his feet quickly, pulling his Omniwrench out as he went, Clank grabbing the Shredder Claws and placing them on the back of his hands as he got up quickly and followed his friend. They both saw Aphelion on her back holding her stomach tightly with fear on her face and with the Combuster tossed carelessly aside, fearing the worst, Clank was already right behind Ratchet waiting for the other Lombax to stop so he could press the pendent and get the medical supplies out.

"What happened!? Are you okay!? Did you get shot somewhere!?" Ratchet asks as he skids to a stop and gets on his knees in front of Aphelion, quickly looking around the area for any possible threats before looking at the black and blue Lombax, Clank having already gotten the medical supplies out and was grabbing what was needed to fix a bullet wound.

"N-no, there's… There's something in my s-stomach…" Aphelion informs shakily, her body visibly trembling in fear as she looked at her lower body before looking up at Ratchet and Clank with fear on her face. "W-what's wrong with me?"

Both male Lombaxes stared at her with confusion before looking at each other, Clank was about to ask Aphelion to remove her arms before Ratchet's stomach suddenly growled, all three Lombaxes pausing at the surprisingly loud sound, Ratchet blushing a little as he let out an awkward chuckle before groaning at the small spike of pain in his abdomen. Aphelion then let out a yelp as she hugged Ratchet and pushed Clank away.

"Clank run! I don't want you to get infected with whatever we have!" She says quickly and fearfully, Clank stopping himself from falling flat on his back before looking at Aphelion questioningly.

"Why? Is that what frightened you earlier?" He asks curiously, Aphelion giving a sharp nod as she held Ratchet tighter, the male letting out a small groan as he felt himself being squeezed before trying to push Aphelion off.

"Aphelion let go! Let go it's nothing we're just hungry!" The male quickly says, Aphelion blinking before letting Ratchet go, who let out a small wheeze before stretching his back.

"Hungry?" Aphelion asks, Ratchet giving a half-strained "Yeah" while Clank walked over to explain.

"Hunger, is like when you are empty on fuel, you will be unable to function properly once you are hungry until you have taken sustenance. A major difference between organic and in-organic life forms, is that organic life forms can continue to function, albeit not as efficiently, even without food, while in-organic life forms will cease to function until refueled." Clank explains with a big smile, Aphelion nodding at him before looking down and blushing slightly at her overreaction, her control of her emotions being much better than Clank's, as the grey Lombax's entire face would've went red if he was put in her position, Ratchet sighing as he had realized that his last meal was the breakfast burrito Clank made for him the previous day.

"… Damn…" The Lombax mutters as he pats his stomach, Aphelion looking at Ratchet, then Clank, then back to Ratchet.

"H-how long can an organic being go without food?" She asks curiously, her blush slowly fading away as Ratchet turned his attention to her.

"Around seven days, but it get's really painful after the second day." Ratchet informs, before sighing. "And once an organic being 'shuts down' after the seven day mark, it can't exactly be brought back by giving it food…"

"Why?" Aphelion asks confusedly, Clank glancing at Ratchet before looking down slightly as the other male gave the answer.

"Cause the organic being will be dead." Aphelion blinked in surprised, blinking with an "oh" before turning and grabbing her Combuster, the female looking downrange at the shot up target –which was a large bolder with a black target circle burned in it-, then looking at Ratchet.

"Do we have any food?" She asks, Clank looking at Ratchet as well for the answer, the yellow Lombax looked at both former in-organics before giving making a nod.

"In the packets on the back of each suit, are not only medical stuff, but also emergency food." He explained, Aphelion giving a nod while Clank blinked in surprise, staring at the yellow Lombax who's ability to be responsible was still growing quite a lot. Ratchet, who noticed the look on his friend's face, had a somber expression as he glanced at Clank before looking at the ground.

"Traveling without you buddy… I uh… I had to learn to do a lot…" The Lombax says softly, having unpleasant and unwanted memories springing back up in his head; memories of the un-dead pirates, simply searching and looking what felt like endlessly in infinite space, The Great Clock…

… Alister…

Clank's expression changed to one of sympathetic sadness as he watched his friend, the grey Lombax then walked over to, and hugged, the yellow one. Ratchet blinked in surprise before sighing as he hugged Clank back slightly, still not exactly use to the feeling of hugging another living being. Though soon they both blinked in surprise as Aphelion joined in hugging the somewhat sad Ratchet, the named individual feeling really awkward in this Lombax sandwich hug, while Clank unexpectedly blushed, after a moment, Aphelion let go of the two males, Clank soon following, and Ratchet getting up.

"Yep, you like hugs for sure." He states sprouting a friendly grin at Clank, who rubbed the back of his head with a slightly nervous smile, Aphelion let out a small laugh while Ratchet chuckled before taking off his harness, flipping it, and pressing the green pendant on the back, and with a flash of light, seven packets of emergency food appeared in front of the three Lombaxes.

"Each one is supposed to be eaten once a day… Though they taste like utter shit, cause they're tasteless, they'll keep us going for a week if we eat the seven in each of our suits when they're supposed to be eaten." Ratchet explains smiling as he grabs one and opens it, immediately eating it as he nodded for Clank and Aphelion to grab one as well. Clank first put the medical equipment back in Ratchet's harness before sitting next to his best friend, grabbing one, and opening it, the grey Lombax stared at it for a couple of seconds before just going on instinct and eating it, glancing around as he saw Aphelion do the same. After a moment of the three silently eating, Ratchet spoke up, the yellow Lombax having finished first.

"You know? I'm kinda glad that swallowing is almost a natural instinct, cause trying to teach that is like trying to get Qwark to listen to a plan. Nearly impossible." The male says smiling and giving a shrug before looking at Clank and Aphelion for agreement, only to pause with a blank look as he saw Clank and Aphelion frozen in place with wide eyes, before both looked at Ratchet pleadingly.

"Oh for love of all that is holy…" Ratchet groans covering his face with a hand in frustration, before sighing and beginning to try and explain to Clank and Aphelion how to consciously swallow.

"Okay. Just try pushing the food down your throat, then you'll feel an odd feeling in your neck, just let it do the work." Ratchet explains, his voice saying that not even he believed what he was saying. Clank and Aphelion stared at the young adult with skeptical expressions before doing as told, Clank swallowing his food without a problem, and actually smiling as he was glad he did, Aphelion on the other hand, made a short noise before coughing out the food in her mouth, Clank looking at the female with worry while Ratchet covered his face with his hands, and a long groan.

" _Somebody kill me please… Before I kill my friends…_ " He mentally begs in both shame and embarrassment, having a very strong feeling it's going to take a lot longer than he thought before they could move on, and hopefully find civilization.

* * *

"So… What do you two think of the organic life so far huh?" Ratchet asks with a grin as he, Clank, and Aphelion were all walking through the forest, having chosen the direction where the sunset would be right in front of them, the group of Lombaxes had taken off in that direction. So far they had come up on nothing, which both pleased, and irritated the male, so to pass the time, he decided to start some small talk with his two Lombax brethren.

"I have found it to be… Intriguing so far… All theses emotions and experiences, and the extra responsibilities that come with them… I can honestly say I have a newfound respect for you Ratchet." The male answers with a big smile, Ratchet noticing pleasantly that for sure, Clank was happy, and enjoyed the Lombax body he had, proven both in his attitude, and the answer he gave just now.

"I definitely find it fun! It's a refreshing experience, and although it has its downs, I think I could get used to it… For the most part… I miss the flying…" Aphelion says sighing as she remembered the feeling of flying through the air, Ratchet's big grin faltering slightly, the Lombax then trying to think of a way to help Aphelion, before getting an idea, but waiting until he could go through with it before telling the female about it.

The trio continued on until a loud bang rang through the three Lombaxes' ears, all looking in the direction of the bang with different expressions; Clank cautiousness and seriousness, Ratchet a mix of seriousness, excitement, and curiosity, and Aphelion straight up curiosity.

"What was that?" Aphelion asks, glancing at Ratchet and Clank, who reached for their weapons.

"I do not know, but something tells me it might not be someone with friendly intentions." Clank answers placing the Shredder Claws on his wrists, activating them as the blue daggers of energy shot out, definitely being longer than when Ratchet had them.

"But if it is someone, that means other living beings live here, which might mean some kind of city nearby." Ratchet says giving his Omniwrench and quick check up before looking back at Clank and Aphelion. "And if you ask me, I think some hostility with a chance of getting answers is better than continuing on without any idea of what to do, don't ya think? Besides, gives you two a chance to test your skills." The male adds with a big smile, Clank blinking with a curious expression before giving a small smile and nodding.

"I agree."

"Me too!" Aphelion says a little cheerfully, grabbing her Combuster and making sure it was ready for action, seeing these two the way they are made Ratchet happy, the three of them were like a trio of siblings, him and Clank already had that kind of relationship, and Aphelion is a close friend of his. But with the two being organics, and by result, more expressive and genuine in the emotions they show, Ratchet couldn't help but feel even closer to the two than before.

In a sense, his little family of two had grown to hold three.

And by default, so did his heart.

"Alright then, let's go!"

* * *

 **And that there is chapter three! Now that I look back on the chapter, Ratchet, Clank, and Aphelion do act like a trio of siblings don't they? With Ratchet being the oldest, Aphelion the middle, and Clank being the youngest. I also decided to give the three their own set of problems to solve, as for what those problems are, well why spoil it?**

 **Now that that's been explained, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! As always constructive criticism is appreciated! See you next time and take care, everybody!**


	4. Let The Realization Set In

**Chapter 4: Let The Realization Set In!**

 **Well, here's the fourth chapter, hope you all enjoy!**

 **Ratchet & Clank Belong to Insomniac while this story belongs to me.**

* * *

"Stop here." Ratchet whispers to Aphelion and Clank, all three hiding behind a bundle of closely packed trees and bushes, the other two nodded as they all peered over the bushes. The three Lombaxes had followed the sound of the gunshot they had heard earlier, which lead them up a pretty high and steep hill. Once they reached the top, the three heard voices coming from beyond the tightly compact trees and bushes, which is where they are now.

"Goddamn it, it got away." Came a gruff female voice, it was a weird bipedal creature with scales and fur, and different kinds of armor on her that were placed at their specific points to effectively cover her body. She was huge, even from a slight distance, the Lombaxes could easily tell she dwarfed them.

"Oh well, guess we gotta look somewhere else, great aim by the by." Came a male voice from another creature that looked somewhat similar to a wolf, this one wasn't as big as the scale creature, but he was still bigger than the Lombaxes hiding in the bushes.

"Well then... didn't think anything that big could be here..." Ratchet admits quietly, Aphelion nodding in agreement while Clank put a hand on his chin in thought.

"They would appear to be poachers... I do believe it might be better to deal with them presently." The grey Lombax suggests glancing at the other two before looking down and noticing that there were four other members of the two species, making it a total of ten poachers.

"Attack them just like that?" Aphelion asks as she looks over at Clank with confusion before giving him a mix of a pout and a glare. "Please don't tell me you're developing his mindset." The female asks using a hand to gesture towards Ratchet, who looked at her with an offended expression.

"Hey, I'm not like that all the time." He says completely offended, only earning him a look from both Aphelion and Clank.

"... Okay nine times out of ten I am, but it doesn't change that it isn't all the time!" The yellow Lombax defends, the other two raising an eyebrow before Clank explained his reasoning.

"These people are poachers, and do not want others to know of their actions. If we were to encounter them in the future, or if they were to come across traces of our presence, it would be a rather large problem for us; for the three of us would no doubt become their next target." Clank explains Aphelion nodding before looking at herself.

"Then if you add the fact that we're Lombaxes..."

"You'll have something that they'll really want to take for bragging rights..." Ratchet finishes with a low voice before frowning deeply.

"Besides, poaching is against universal law, so I guess they deserve what's coming to them, and we need directions to the next town anyway." The male adds tightening his grip on his Omniwrench.

"Agreed." Clank says nodding in agreement while Aphelion looked at both Ratchet and Clank in acknowledgement before looking at the poachers who were discussing and trying to find another trail.

"So, are we to ambush them?" Aphelion asks glancing at the two males beside her before blinking as they were already off going down the hill with their weapons activated, the black and neon blue Lombax raised an eyebrow at the two before huffing.

"Boys, no manners of any kind, I'll be sure to teach them some after this..." She sighs before checking her Combuster one more time, then heading down after the two other Lombaxes, though the trip down was terrifying for the female, as she nearly tripped and fell over almost every bump and rock due to not having perfect control over her body. Once down, she saw the two hiding behind trees, Ratchet clenching his Omniwrench in anticipation, while Clank slowly turned the Shredder Claws off, the blades slowly fading from sight as Clank made sure to turn it off this way as to be silent, his reasoning being he had a plan that wouldn't require the energy blades, at least at first

"Alright then 'shoot first ask questions later, then shoot again' what's going to be the plan?" Aphelion asks looking over at the other two males' who glanced at each other, before Clank looked up in thought while Ratchet checked the poacher's positions.

"The devised course of action, is Ratchet and I will approach them and give them a distraction as we close the distance between our two parties. During this time, you will try to find a good vantage point where you will have oversight on the poachers. A place just close enough that you can interfere if the occasion should ever arise. When we signal you, you will fire at any poacher of your choosing, of which then Ratchet and I will take advantage of their surprise and attack. The key goal is to keep one of them alive and or conscious, but incapacitated as to question them." Clank explains, Aphelion's eyes widen as Ratchet looks at his best friend with a raised eyebrow.

"So essentially, we'll be bait, and Aphelion will take advantage of that and snipe someone, then me, you, and her get the others as well, without killing one person?" Ratchet summarizes, Clank giving a nod with "That is correct" to answer the yellow Lombax's question. Ratchet nodding as if he was thinking before grinning hugely.

"Let's do it."

"Wait, are we sure that there isn't another way to take care of this without putting you two in danger?" Aphelion asks before lifting the gun. "You two forget that I don't have the best control over my body." She points, Ratchet looking at her with his grin taking a cocky turn.

"There is, but I don't think you'll like a full assault, and to be honest, I don't think you'll like being the bait either... Unless I'm wrong?" Aphelion blinked in surprised before glaring down at the floor, not having anything to say to either of those plans.

"I thought so." Ratchet says with a nod before looking at Clank, the two exchanged a nod, and were about to head out before they were both hugged by Aphelion.

"Oh dear…"

"Uhh..." Was the awkwardness induced sound/words that were uttered by the two males.

"Just be careful okay? Too many times have I stayed behind only for you two to come back hurt, whether it's physically, mentally, or emotionally." Aphelion softly states and asks, looking at Ratchet specifically when she had stated those last two words. The yellow Lombax looking away with a little sadness in his eyes, while Clank gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"You may rest assure Aphelion, Ratchet and I will be fine." The grey Lombax reassures giving the female a short hug back before she broke it, Ratchet looking at her with a smile and determination in his eyes.

"Signal to fire is a closed fist, signal to come down is an open hand, and Clank's right, don't you worry" He states before the two headed out, Aphelion watching them for a moment before going to find a good spot where she can watch and get an easy shot at, any of the ten poachers.

" _Cause if anything happens, I'll take the full hit..._ "

"Alright then smart ass, where do you suggest we look next? There aren't any traces here for miles!" The male argues, throwing his hands up to make a point while the female rolled her eyes.

"Then we simply find something that isn't game and take that down instead, we've done it before." She simply answers glaring harshly at the male wolf-like creature, the other eight poachers having arguments of their own on what to do.

"And where do you suppose we'll look? Or do you want to just sit on our asses right here and wait for something or someone-" The wolf poacher began to demand before both paused at hearing a voice.

"Excuse me." All ten poachers paused and looked to the source of the voice, only to see Ratchet and Clank standing side-by-side, Ratchet holding his Omniwrench lightly, while Clank held the back of his right hand, both appearing with nervousness in their body language -though it was only fake and they were doing it just to fool the poachers-, the two leaders looked confusedly at the two young adults, who they had no idea what kind of species they were.

"Hi, me and my friend here are engineers... We were supposed to transfer an item to a client, but we got lost and need a way to a nearby town or city... Do you know?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head as he and Clank approached the two leaders, the wolf and the lizard creature staring at the two cat-like aliens for a while longer before the lizard creature asked.

"What are you two?"

"We're Lombaxes... There's only so few of us left so... Yeah it makes sense that you wouldn't have heard of us..." Ratchet says before Clank spoke up.

"Four in known existence, to be precise..." He informs quietly, Ratchet already knowing who those four were; him, Clank, Aphelion, and Angela.

"Four huh?..." The wolf creature repeats before looking at the other wolf poachers, who looked at him and smiled, the leader nodding before looking at the lizard creature, who grinned at him before looking at the two Lombaxes.

"Alright then, we'll lead you the way." The female creature informs, sporting a grin that a naive person would never understand, but neither Ratchet, nor Clank, were naive, not even in the slightest, both knew exactly what it meant; that if they had gone with them, they'd never be seen alive again. The yellow Lombax raised his hand up and closed it in a tightly compacted fist, which confused the two poachers to no end.

"What are you doing?" The wolf poacher asked before a loud gunshot was heard, and a flaming bullet went soaring past the leader.

And right into Ratchet.

The male made a small sound before just dodging the projectile with a yelp, Clank yelping in surprise himself as he looked at where the bullet landed with wide eyes. while the leaders and poachers all turned their backs on the two to find the source.

" **What the hell!?** " Was the question one of the reptile creatures yelled. The two male Lombaxes glanced at each other, before Clank activated his Shredder Claws, and Ratchet activated his Omniwrench, white energy cackling at the front end as both took one shot at the two leaders. Ratchet horizontally slamming his wrench against the lizard female's head with a shout, hearing a loud sickening crunch sound, while Clank cut the calfs of the wolf creature's legs. The female making no sound as she was launched off her feet and landed a couple of meters away, while the male roared in pain and dropped to his knees, no blood coming from his wounds as they were cauterized as soon as they got cut. The other poachers looked at the two Lombaxes in shock before one was shot in the lung from behind, and the other in the lower back, both falling with a scream or yelp.

Ratchet and Clank acted quickly, as suddenly, a shower of bullets came from the forest in almost every direction, the two Lombaxes dodging all the fire as they went to two of the other poachers. Ratchet delivering a hard punch strong enough to throw one off his feet and land face first into the ground, he then turned around and slammed his Omniwrench into the other's face, hearing a cracking sound as the poacher was then slammed onto his back from the sheer force. Clank meanwhile had dodged a pointblank shot aimed at his face and chopped the poacher's gun in half, he then delivered a slice across the illegal hunter's chest, turning and roundhouse kicking the other's arm hard enough to dislocate it, before jabbing him in the chest with one of the claws, kicking him away and hitting the deck along with Ratchet. In total the two had taken three down each and both were sure that the bullets that were flying over their heads from Aphelion would take out the last one. After a second, the rain of bullets stopped, and out came Aphelion, who ran over to the two with a worried expression.

"Are you both okay!? Please tell me I didn't hit either of you! Oh, I warned you Ratchet about my control over my body!" Aphelion hurriedly exclaims as she checks all over the nearest person, which was Clank, who watched her with slightly wide eyes, before she moved on to Ratchet, who watched her with a relaxed grin.

"I'm fine Aphelion, you didn't hit me or Clank." Ratchet reassures, Aphelion sighing as once she saw he was fine before smacking his arm.

" **Ow! Damn! Why?!** " Ratchet asks rubbing his arm to try and ease the pain.

"For putting me through that completely irritating experience!"

"What?! That's bull; you stressed **yourself** out!" Clank watched Ratchet and Aphelion go back and forward before clearing his throat, prompting both to look at him.

"I believe we should return to our original purpose for being here?" He suggests with a tilt of his head, the two arguing Lombaxes blinking for a moment before glancing at each other, huffing, then looking away.

"I would assume so."

"Yeah sure."

"Very well then." Clank says smiling brightly before heading over to the one incapacitated poacher, with Ratchet following. Aphelion stared at the two, before looking at her body, multiple thoughts going through her mind about her situation, and a specific negative emotion before she sighed and clumsily followed the two males.

The wolf poacher groaned, holding his stinging injured calves tightly as he kept his head down.

"Now, would you mind giving us the directions to the closest city?" Clank asks as he approached the poacher, Ratchet putting a hand on the fellow Lombax's shoulder and giving a shake of his head. The yellow cat-like alien then moved ahead of his friend and approached the poacher himself.

"So, are you going to tell us?" Ratchet asks, poacher grunting still as Ratchet approached him.

"North."

Ratchet, Clank, and Aphelion all blinked at hearing the answer, the individual who was named first tilting his head.

"Go north from here, and you'll hit the large populated city known as Avius..." The wolf poacher stated looking up at Ratchet, before suddenly jumping at the Lombax while grabbing a firearm from the floor. Ratchet gasped in surprise as he tried to jump back, but he accidentally put all his weight in his injured leg and cursed as he flinched. The poacher grinned as he took advantage of Ratchet's pause and delivered a cut across the yellow Lombax's stomach, then knocked the air out of him with a kick to the abdomen on the same recently opened wounds. At the same time, he fired a shot from his own gun at Aphelion, who ended up getting hit in the same arm that had been fractured with a yelp. Clank staring wide-eyed in surprise as Ratchet fell onto his back holding his stomach, and Aphelion laid on her side holding her arm. The poacher grinning at both before suddenly screaming as before he had known it, his entire right arm had been removed from his body, no blood was spilled however due to the instant cauterization. A yell then was heard from Clank as he landed and delivered a light slash to the poacher's back, making sure that it wasn't deep enough to kill, the grey Lombax then kicked the poacher in the wound hard enough to send him landing on his face.

"C-Clank..." Ratchet says in a strained voice, trying to calm down his friend who had been swallowed by anger. Clank however wasn't listening as he approached the groaning and rising poacher, and proceeded to deliver another slash against the wolf-creature's back, the illegal hunter letting out a roar of pain.

" **Clank!** " Aphelion's cry fell on deaf ears as Clank drove a Shredder Claw through the poacher's right lung, the wolf-like creature making a choking sound before going silent as Clank separated his torso from his hips with a shout. The grey Lombax then stood straight as the now dead poacher's body fell in two different directions, Clank glaring down at the corpse with uncontrolled rage before his anger slowly died out and he blinked out of it as he was suddenly hugged by Aphelion.

"Aphelion?" He asks looking at the female, and was about to ask what was going on before he had noticed the cut up corpse at his feet. Clank froze up, his eyes showing panic and fear, and his arms shaking with guilt.

"What… W-what have I..." The grey Lombax asks staring at the carnage that he himself had created, a heavy feeling weighing down on his heart, his mind then remembered his best friend who just got slashed across the stomach and kicked in the same spot, he then turned off his Shredder Claws, then turned away slowly with a shaky weak sigh. Aphelion letting go slowly before both Lombaxes then headed over to Ratchet who was just getting up with a groan.

"R-Ratchet... I... I am so... S-so terribly sorry... I do not know what came over me I... I.." Clank apologizes weakly as he looks down, the guilt taking its full effect on the grey Lombax. Suddenly, he felt a hand fall onto, and softly hold, his shoulder, Clank paused as he felt it before looking at Ratchet eye-to-eye.

"I-it's alright Clank... Anger has a nasty habit of doing that to even the best people... When it's genuine, it can be pretty hard to control." Ratchet reassured with and smile.

"B-but I... He shouldn't h-have died that way... It's..." Clank continues, his eyes tearing up and releasing a few drops before Ratchet rubbed his head.

"Clank hey, look at me, you're okay. You were protecting me and Aphelion, and you don't have perfect control over your emotions. Take a deep breath, you're okay, we're okay, everything is fine." Ratchet says smiling softly, Clank sniffing before hugging Ratchet. The yellow Lombax froze, keeping silent and still for a moment before sighing as he reluctantly hugged Clank back. The two soon breaking the hug and Ratchet smiling at the fellow male, who gave a smaller smile and nod in response, while Aphelion frowned and stared at Clank's body, then hers, before both Aphelion and Ratchet grunted simultaneously as they each grabbed their new respective wounds. Clank making a noise in surprise before checking the person in front of him first, who happened to be Ratchet.

"Let me see the wound." Clank asks, Ratchet removing his arms and lifting his shirt with his mouth, while using his hands to stabilize himself as he sat down.

"Don't we have Nano-bots that are supposed to take care of this?" Ratchet asks with a groan as Clank and Aphelion look at his wounds. The three cuts across Ratchet's abdomen were deep and a little wide, enough for it to bleed quite badly, but disembowelment was not something anybody had to worry about. Clank took off a glove and reached down to rub the area, Ratchet flinching and hissing as soon as the grey Lombax's hands met his body.

"Mother f- Careful Clank, your hands are freezing." Ratchet warns as he fidgets a little bit, Clank removing his hands a moment and apologizing, before feeling the area around Ratchet's wound. "Funny to see that you kept _something_ from your robot body... Aside from the creepy chuckle."

Clank let out a chuckle before glancing at Ratchet with a smile, then looking back at the male's wounds.

"You are definitely going to bruise, but there does not seem to be any other sustained injuries. As for the nanobots. I believe they were all used up keeping us alive from our decent through orbit and abrupt landings." Clank informs, Ratchet huffing as Aphelion went and tapped the pendant on Clank's back, pulling out the medical gear and giving it to the male.

"Thank you, Aphelion, may you sit next to Ratchet so he can check your arm?" He says kindly with a glance at the female, Aphelion giving a nod before sitting next to the fellow injured Lombax.

"You know? This could look really wrong and awkward if the situation was different." Ratchet points out to both Clank and Aphelion with a grin as he still holds his shirt up in his mouth and looks over at the female Lombax.

"Then I guess we can count ourselves lucky that the situation isn't different." Aphelion states as she lets go of her arm, a burn hole being buried in her clothes where she was shot, Ratchet rolling his eyes as he took off her glove, then rolled up the sleeve.

"Why do we wear these again? I don't see the point in feeling uncomfortable and being encased in useless cloth and metal and whatever else these things are made of." Aphelion asks as she watches Ratchet check -or at least try to check- the injury on her arm, flinching whenever he moved it in a way that cause pain.

"Because that 'useless cloth and metal' protects you, that shot would've taken your arm off without the armo-Agh son of a Qwark, Clank!" Ratchet says through the shirt in his mouth as he looks back down at the grey Lombax.

"I do apologize, but we have to disinfect the lacerations." Clank apologizes as he continues cleaning the tri-cuts, Ratchet sighing before looking at Aphelion's arm again and continuing his inspection.

"Well at least the damn thing hit your arm where there's blue fur..." Ratchet mutters as he moves the slightly burnt fur around to check the skin.

"Is that a good thing?" Aphelion asks. Ratchet giving a shrug.

"Good and ba-Gah, damnit Clank!"

"Apologies." Ratchet huffed before looking at Aphelion and finishing his explanation.

"Good cause it would be easy to find the wound, bad cause well... You have a black spot on your blue fur." The male finishes, Aphelion giving a nod as Ratchet fixed her cloths and gave the female her glove.

"You're fine." He says simply with a small grin. Aphelion gave a small huff before smiling as she placed her glove on, Ratchet then looking down at his friend curiously.

"How are we doing down there?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"We are almost finished, I just have to sow the lacerations closed." Clank informs before Ratchet suddenly yanked away from him.

"Whoa whoa nonono! Sorry, but no way in hell am I going through **that** hell again!" Ratchet exclaims holding his stomach, Clank taking a deep breath in frustration while Aphelion raised an eyebrow.

"Ratchet-"

"I have a stapler."

Clank and Aphelion looked at Ratchet wide eyed as the Lombax turned his back to the two and showed them the pendant on his back.

"It's quicker and a whole hell of a lot less painful than sowing it closed." The yellow Lombax says with a sigh. "It'll still hurt like nothing else, but it'll end sooner." Clank raised an eyebrow before sighing and shifting over, pressing the pendant and accidentally taking out the emergency food, the grey Lombax huffing in frustration as he tapped the pendant again and got the stapler, then put the rations back in the inter-dimensional tool box. Ratchet took a deep breath before putting the edge of his shirt back into his mouth, then turned to face Clank.

"Kay, I'm ready." He says muffled through the shirt, Clank looking at Ratchet with worry etched in his entire expression before going through with the procedure.

By the end, loud shouts of pain, apologies, and tears were let out.

* * *

"Bruise? *pant* I swear this damn thing's *pant* going to scar…" Ratchet says looking at his wrapped-up stomach before letting his shirt cover the wounds, the male panting due to being out of breath from all the snarling and shouting he did while Clank used the staplers to close his cuts. The grey Lombax patting his friend's back in apology, his eyes ever so slightly red due to some crying he did while stapling Ratchet.

"I am sorry you had to go through that kind of suffering." Clank says softly, Aphelion reluctantly rubbing Ratchet's head to help sooth him, the yellow Lombax blinking and looking at both before shooing their hands off him.

"I said I was fine you two, jeez, it's already over so there's no need to be sorry about it." Ratchet states with a pouty expression, Clank nodding with a smile and Aphelion raising an eyebrow at Ratchet, who only began to move north.

"Come on, the skies going to start turning reddish and I'd like to find some place to sleep." Ratchet beckons as he marches on, Aphelion glanced at Clank, sighed, then followed him. Clank however stopped in place and looked back at where he had chopped up the poacher, remembering the pain he put the wolf-creature through, and what kind of monster he acted like.

" _I cannot allow that to happen again… I most certainly do not want them to be in danger like that… From either an outside source or me… I must try harder to control my emotions…_ " The Lombax thought as he stared determinedly in the direction where his inability to control his emotions first showed what a real problem it could be, before following his two friends.

" _I can't stand this…_ " Aphelion thought as she clumsily almost tripped over a bump in their path before continuing with Clank and Ratchet, the latter being in the front, and the former at the back. At first she had been okay with having an organic body, but after seeing just the amount of problems that comes from being organic, she had realized that she hated this body, she hated their situation, she hated having to do and worry about so many different things, having to worry about such puny weapons killing her, the pain that comes from being hit, the pain that comes from fixing injuries, the stress from powerful emotions trying to take control of her actions, and most of all, she hated Ratchet's impulsiveness for getting them here in the first place. She may have better control of her emotions than Clank, but she's nowhere near the level of control required to hide all that anger that was currently boiling inside her.

"So… Anybody have any idea where we might find a place to camp?" Ratchet asks looking behind him at Clank and Aphelion, who both looked at him with different expressions, Clank being curiosity, interest, and a small mix of joy and sadness, while Aphelion glared harshly at the leading Lombax, who quickly looked ahead to avoid the death glare he was getting from the female.

"Maybe we could… No… We do not have any cloth…" Clank mutters out loud as he thinks before giving a shrug with a sheepish smile. "It seems being an organic makes it harder to think." He admits, Ratchet laughing while Aphelion looked at the grey Lombax wide eyed.

"Well don't worry pal, I'm sure you'll figure something out, you always do." Ratchet reassures, Aphelion staring at him ludicrously before huffing.

"How can you be so relaxed? It's getting dark and we have no idea where we're supposed to stay, you're injured, I have a practically useless arm, I still can't control my body as well as you two do, and we don't have any clue of how close we are to the city." Aphelion lists with a deep frown, the group's progress slowing to a stop as Ratchet turned to look at the angry Lombax, while Clank looked at Aphelion with slight surprise at her sudden nastiness.

"…I try not to think too much about the future, you know, think and live in the moment." Ratchet explains with a shrug, his voice sounding cautious as if waiting for someone to yell or snap, Aphelion glaring harder at the male in front of her.

"It's that thought process that got us here in the first place!" She snarled, confirming Ratchet's cautiousness while Clank blinked in recognition as he realized that Aphelion's frustration, fear, and anger that had been put on her since they first got here was starting to get the better of her.

"Aphelion-"

" **Don't!** " Aphelion states glaring at Clank, who immediately froze up due to the sudden emotion of surprise and fear, while Ratchet glared at the female Lombax.

"Leave Clank alone, he's just trying to help." Ratchet warns in a low voice, throwing his caution and calm state of mind out the window, Aphelion turning around again to bark back at the yellow Lombax.

"Oh, and you are doing what exactly? Oh right, not helping. You put us in this situation to begin with! In these damned bodies that we can't control, **that I didn't even want**! And then on top of that, you got us stuck here on this unknown planet with unknown inhabitants and even more unknown dangers! All because you couldn't wait a couple of hours!" Aphelion growls loudly, Clank walking closer to Ratchet and putting himself in between the two, though not directly.

"Yeah! And I'm trying to get us out! What do you think I've been trying to do this past day, scratched that, make that **two days** counting today, teaching you both how to do things and control your bodies?! **You** especially!" Ratchet argues back, his voice raising a little as did the anger in his voice.

"Getting us nearly killed is not helping us! Throwing us into battle after barely a day of learning how to control ourselves is both dumb and reckless! Just what were you thinking?!" Aphelion yelled, taking a step closer to Ratchet Clank making a small noise as he tried to think of a way to end the conflict between his closest friends.

"I was thinking I could trust you both to control yourselves and help **all** **three of us!** " Ratchet snapped loudly while taking a step as well. "That through an easy fight, I could be able to tell how much you know, and how much more you need to know!"

"Then **ask** to fight us! Train with us and find out how much we need to know, not throw us into a potentially **life-threatening situation**!"

"I couldn't do that because I know **both** of your emotions would get in the way! You **both** wouldn't fight at your best cause you'd be too afraid of hurting me, which would completely throw off the progress of teaching you!"

"Stop!" Clank finally shouted pushing his way in-between Ratchet and Aphelion, and using his arms to separate the two, Ratchet blinking in surprise as he saw that Clank's arms were shaking slightly while Aphelion continued to glare at Ratchet. Ratchet blinked as he saw the fear in Clank's body language and took a deep breath, Aphelion turning and facing away from both Lombaxes, staring at the floor for a moment, before heading off north.

It was an odd silence, one with Ratchet standing staring at the floor with anger, regret, and sadness in his eyes, and Clank standing staring off with his legs shaking ever so slightly, and fear being buried in his gut.

"… Clank… I'm sorry…" Ratchet says as he looks at his best friend with sadness and regret in his eyes, the anger fading away as Clank looked over at Ratchet and gave him a shaky smile.

"I-it is okay Ratchet… Aphelion and I are s-still learning to control our emotions… S-so I can assure you that the s-situation looks worse than it legitimately is." Clank reassures softly before taking a deep shaky breath, Ratchet staring at him with sympathy before raising his arms in a hugging gesture.

"Come on… I know you want to." Clank nodded and hugged Ratchet, both standing in silence as they comforted each other, Ratchet thinking about what had just happened to both Aphelion, and Clank, while the grey Lombax was worried about Ratchet and Aphelion.

"Okay… Let's go find Aphelion, and then try and help her." Ratchet suggests softly as he and Clank break the hug, the grey Lombax smiling and nodding.

"Yes." With a smirk, Ratchet motioned for them to get a move on, Clank nodding as they both power jogged to catch up with their female Lombax, one determined to apologize and make up for his mistakes, and the other to help her calm down and comfort her on her anger and her fears, and both hoping to help her come to terms with their situation.

As for now, each other is all the three of them will ever have.

"And for the record Ratchet, I do believe you make quite the adequate teacher."

"Eeh, I'd say I have my moments… and the swallowing lesson was definitely not one of them..."

A creepy chuckle was then heard followed by complaining about said chuckle.

* * *

 **And there's the fourth chapter, and after that argument, I'd definitely say that the three have a sibling relationship. As for the personal problems they each have to deal with, Ratchet and Aphelion's are now just coming to surface, while Clank has already seen the results of his. Let's hope they can get better as time goes on.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is always appreciated! See you next time and take care, everybody!**


	5. Love In Acceptance

**Chapter 5: Love In Acceptance**

 **So here is chapter 5, it won't have any kind of fighting in it, just more character development… I really hope I'm not writing anybody out of character here… Wish me luck!**

 **Night Rider 7 = Thank you for your kind words sir, I am glad that you are interested in, and like, my story! I always thought that a sudden change of entire biological make-up would be jarring to any character and I've always wondered why some stories that have similar things happen to a character, don't go into this much detail, if at all. But I guess that's what they decided to do. Now as for my grammar and punctuation issues, I'm going to try and work a bit harder on that, thank you for bringing it to my attention.**

 **Ratchet & Clank belong to Insomniac while this story belongs to me.**

 **Also, I guess I recommend listening to the song; "Faded" by Gareth Evans up to the line break at least. I listened to that song while writing this chapter, and it fits the soft positive tone well (at least for me).**

* * *

Aphelion continued walking with anger in frustration in both her steps, and her expression, her feet making audible noises as they crunched the grass underneath her boots. She was still following the path the poacher had told them to head in, no matter how angry she got, she wasn't stupid. But her mind was elsewhere instead of here and now, or more specifically, on someone.

" _I can't believe that he- just that-..._ " She thinks incompletely. She was still fussing about Ratchet and, why wouldn't she? The yellow Lombax's recklessness and impulsiveness had gotten her, Clank and by default, Ratchet himself, into trouble time and time again. Now it has gotten the three of them here stuck with uncontrollable new forms –for Aphelion and Clank anyway-, plus whatever dangers happen to inhabit the planet, like the poachers, or perhaps something worse.

" _But aside from that, he hasn't done anything wrong... In fact it's the opposite, he's trying to fix this..._ " She thinks softly, her steps coming to a halt and her expression softening. Like two sides of a coin; as many times Ratchet's 'act-before-think' behavior has gotten them in trouble, is as many times his willingness to do right by those he cares about, and fix his mistakes, has gotten them out. Sometimes better off than when they had started, and to be perfectly honest, the carefree attitude has always been something she liked about Ratchet. Which is probably the reason she has always hated seeing him or Clank down... Their attitudes had always made her happy, come hell or heaven... Or was it high water? Things like that have always confused Aphelion, she continued pondering that subject before she realized that she had gotten off track in her thoughts and groaned loudly in further frustration.

" _I can't keep a straight line of thought! It's like everything I think of leads right back to those two, damn this stupid body and its dumb emotions! Damn those two especially for doing this... Though they both have been kind and helpful..._ " Aphelion thinks in anger, blinking in realization before sitting down on the floor letting out a huff as yet, another train of thought had ended up as a positive thought about the two male Lombaxes known as Ratchet and Clank.

"I'm really off subject now..." She mutters sighing. Try as she might, she couldn't get the two out of her head, she was pissed at them yeah, Ratchet especially, yet she couldn't help but break out a huge smile whenever she thought of either one of the dynamic duo.

" _Maybe it's something wrong with this body..._ " She sums up, letting out another deep sigh to try and calm her down, knowing that any further pondering on the confusing thought would just lead to more frustration. The female Lombax then stared at the floor, her mind now going back to when she and Ratchet had their fight, and she just now realized a fact that made her stomach drop in guilt.

Clank had been shaking. Almost like a little brother that got scared and worried whenever his elder siblings fought, and while Ratchet had stayed and probably apologized, she had stormed off in a fit.

"I guess I'm the one that is not helping..." She concludes quietly, the guilt she was feeling making her feel weird in her abdomen, her heart and her eyes, before she dropped the subject as her ears twitched. Footsteps, two pairs by the sound of how many there was, Aphelion then listened closer out of instinct as a pattern had shown up in the sounds of their feet hitting the grass, the female taking a guess that the two figures were jogging at a near runner's pace and one was limping, quite badly now that she paid attention.

"Huh... Kind of weird that I can home in what I hear when I don't know how... Damn it!" Aphelion thought as she made herself think about her actions and lose whatever control she just had. The female sighed before this time hearing the footsteps behind her without having to 'aim' for it with her ears.

Aphelion turned toward the source of the sound, only for nothing to be there in front of her, it confused her to no end, and wondered if- what was the term? Oh yes, her mind was playing tricks on her.

"If those two are trying to pull something like they did back at the cave..." She thought warningly as she tapped her belt and held her Combuster out.

"What is the matter?" Came a formal soft voice, Aphelion turning towards it to see Clank walking over to her with a calm smile. Aphelion sighed and put her Combuster away; inside she was both happy, and sad at the same time, happy cause that has always been her first reaction to seeing either Clank or Ratchet, and sad cause she had remembered what she did to the grey Lombax.

Or more specifically, what she didn't do.

"C-Clank... I'm sorry..." Aphelion apologizes looking down at the floor. She could feel the guilt surround her body, and felt that same odd feeling in her eyes before she suddenly heard Clank stop right next to her and sit down, the black Lombax looking over at the grey one with curiosity and worry.

"There is no need for apologies Aphelion," Clank said softly looking at Aphelion with a soft smile. "You still haven't learned full control of your emotions, though it appears that you have a better sense of control over them than I do, curiously enough…" He informed looking up as he thought about that slightly confusing thing himself, before he shook his head and looked at the female again, the male wanting to get back on subject. "But regardless, your apology is accepted."

Aphelion stared at Clank for a moment before giggling, which then turned into a full-blown laughter. Clank tilted his head in confusion, not sure in the slightest why she had started laughing the way she was, did he do something wrong? Was it something he said?

"M-… May I inquire what you happen to find so funny?" Clank asks with an expression that mixed confusion and curiosity as he watched the female laugh joyously. Aphelion meanwhile continued to laugh, and even almost fell on her side from how little control she had before she soon forced the laughs back down to giggles, then soon stopped giggling entirely, the female looking at Clank with a bright smile.

"Nothing, you just make me laugh." She answers, her smile softening ever so slightly. Clank blinked in surprise, he had to be honest and say he did not expect that answer from the female Lombax, but he smiled big as he was quite happy with that answer.

"Well, I am glad that I make you so giddy." Clank answers honestly, Aphelion nodding with a bigger smile before both looked off into the forest with peaceful expressions. The two Lombax's minds going elsewhere in the comfortable silence, and while she wasn't sure what Clank was thinking about, Aphelion herself was definitely thinking about her two companions once again. The kinds of things the two do together and the amount of fun they seem to have. Yeah there were times when they'd come back injured or with one missing, but nine times out of ten, Ratchet and Clank always seemed to be happiest when they were out kicking butt, taking names, exploring places and the occasional find of a Golden Bolt.

" _Maybe I'm misjudging this body…_ " Aphelion thinks as she remembers one time when she wished she could have gone on at least, one full adventure with the two instead of just bringing them around and waiting, with the occasional dogfight conflicts that she can take care of.

"I understand your frustration and your fear Aphelion, I have felt it myself plenty of times already on this particular outing." Clank suddenly speaks up, prompting Aphelion out of her thoughts, and the female looked over at the grey Lombax, who looked back at her as he spoke.

"Ever since I had awakened I had been scared, all of these senses running through my body, all the sensations and the powerful emotions that I experience in one moment at a time, as you see and have seen, it almost always overwhelms me. In fact, I can safely say the probability of me becoming overwhelmed again with emotion; is six-hundred and ninety-eight-million, four-hundred and thirty-two-thousand, seven-hundred and sixty-five to one for." Clank says smiling bigger, Aphelion raising an eyebrow before shaking her head with a small giggle at the joke, after a moment she calmed her giddiness and gave Clank her full attention once again.

"But regardless, I understand that you have these emotions and sensations going through you as well, and though you may have better control over your actions, it does not mean you do not experience them as strongly as me or Ratchet," Clank explains as he looks back out into the forest. "So when you feel them, try to remember that the three of us have all been through worse and yet we have pulled through, with that conclusion in mind, we should be able to come through this as well."

Aphelion nodded and looked down at the grass, contemplating everything Clank had just stated, what each phrase meant and what the grey Lombax had wanted through those meanings, before she took a deep breath.

"Thank you Clank." Aphelion states as she glances at Clank then looks back down at the grass, Clank looking at Aphelion and nodding with a smile before looking back out into the forest.

"How is our hard-headed leader? I could hear him limping…" Aphelion suddenly speaks up, Clank looking at the black and neon blue alien-cat-like creature before looking back out to the forest.

"His lacerations will heal with time, as will the incision on his leg." Clank answers, Aphelion huffing with a sarcastic smile.

"As long as he decides he'll stop jumping head first into battle maybe…" She says semi-spitefully, Clank blinking and looking at her with slight worry, Aphelion looked at him and noticing his look before smiling.

"I'm not angry anymore." She reassured, Clank nodding and internally sighing, as he had been worried for a second that what had happened earlier, was going to happen all over again. That would be the exact opposite of what he was trying to accomplish.

"That is reassuring to hear." He vocalizes, Aphelion nodding with a smirk before glancing around.

"Where is he anyways?" She asks, she had noticed the lack of bright colors in their environment, and was extremely curious as to why the only natural Lombax wasn't present. While taking in her surroundings, she had also noticed that night had finally decided to take the skies, the only reason she and Clank didn't notice –she presumed Clank hadn't noticed- was due to their night vision. Clank looked behind him and Aphelion, staring at something for a moment before looking at the female Lombax.

"He is a little off behind us," Clank informs, Aphelion no longer looking about and giving her attention to her friend. "He had been worried that his presence would make you… Unreasonable…" Clank finishes a bit cautiously; Aphelion gave a nod before sighing as she looked at the floor once again.

"I honestly think I would be better off if I knew he was here…" Aphelion admits quietly, sighing after she had let her inner worries known to the male Lombax beside her. Clank raised an eyebrow slightly before giving a gentle smile of understanding, angry or not, Aphelion still cared about Ratchet as much as he did, and knowing that the yellow-brown Lombax was injured and by himself where neither Clank, or Aphelion, could see him, definitely made the grey-white Lombax worry a little.

"I shall get him then." Clank announces getting up, Aphelion watching before both paused as the familiar voice of their leader had reached their ears.

"No need, I'm right here." Both former-artificial beings turned behind them to see Ratchet with his arms crossed, a soft smirk on his face, and his left shoulder propped against a tree. Clank smiled bigger at the sight of the fellow male, while Aphelion casually rose to her feet and started walking over, Ratchet putting his weight back on his legs –still mostly on his uninjured leg- and left hand on his hip as he watched her come over. Aphelion stopped once she was right in front of Ratchet, the two staring at each other eye-to-eye, Aphelion with a blank expression, and Ratchet with the still relaxed expression he had a moment ago, Clank walking over and watching the two silently.

"I am sorry for my outburst earlier, you're trying to do right by us and I did not see that."

"I accept your apology, I'm sorry for getting us into this in the first place, I should've thought before I acted."

"Apology accepted." It was over just like that, silence following as Ratchet and Aphelion stared at each other with unwavering expressions, and Clank watching both now with curiosity. Aphelion then suddenly smiled big with genuine happiness in her eyes, Ratchet grinning hugely with the same amount of happiness in his own emerald eyes, Clank noticing their expressions and smiling quite big himself.

"Now… Since that's all said and done, I think it's time we set up camp." Ratchet announces while stretching his back, Aphelion smiling at him and giving a nod, Clank nodding almost eagerly before glancing around, then looking at Ratchet and Aphelion with cautiousness in his eyes.

"Might I propose we do not turn on the incinerator tonight? I do not think it would be wise to do so on a path I would assume other poachers travel on…" Clank suggests as he glances around once again, Ratchet and Aphelion looking at the grey Lombax, before both nodded.

"You're right, come on, let's go that way." Ratchet says going off to the side of the path and walking into the forest, Clank and Aphelion following shortly. The three kept walking until Ratchet was sure they wouldn't be seen, the yellow Lombax dropping immediately onto his bum with a loud groan.

"God, my body aches…" Ratchet whined as he rubs his stomach with one hand, and his right leg with his other arm, Clank sitting next to him on his right, while Aphelion sat on his left.

"Then next time don't jump head first into battle nitwit." Aphelion comments lightly smacking Ratchet's arm with a smirk, Ratchet laughing a little as he hit her back.

"Hey you know me, can't help a good fight." Ratchet replies, Clank snickering at the two as the three of them settled down; Clank lying on his side facing away from Ratchet, and Aphelion doing the same, while Ratchet laid flat on his back and stared up at the sky, watching the stars through the big opening in the trees. Already the three could feel sleep trying to take them, they had done a lot today, and had way more to do tomorrow, finding the city of Avius, finding someplace to repair their clothes –or Ratchet's and Aphelion's for that matter- and then finding some kind of ship that could take them back home. However, at that moment, Ratchet wasn't too worried about tomorrow; his mind, was on the shining specks of light that littered the almost black sky.

"…Stars are nice tonight." Ratchet suddenly speaks up, Aphelion glancing at him, and then looking at the sky.

"Yes they are…" She agrees as she stared with wonder and awe shining brightly in her amber eyes. Ratchet glanced over at Aphelion and watched her, the shining of amazement in her eyes, and the big smile on her face, before he looked back to the ghosts of stars light-years away.

"What do you think Clank... Clank?" Ratchet asks looking to his right at his best friend, only to see the grey Lombax fast asleep with a peaceful expression. Ratchet silently watched Clank sleep for a moment with a pondering expression, before a soft smile grew on his face.

" _Get a good amount of rest buddy, you really deserve it…_ " Ratchet thought happily, before he then looked to the stars once again, watching them shine in the darkness of space with Aphelion, who continued to stare in awe at the light's brilliance.

"Never got to see the stars?" Aphelion suddenly blinked out of her zoned-out amazement and looked over to see Ratchet glancing at her, then looking back up at the sky. Aphelion blinked as she watched him for a moment before turning on her side to face him.

"I have, but… It's weird… I have seen the stars before, plenty of times in fact… Yet this time, it feels like I'm seeing them for the first time…" Aphelion explains softly and quietly as to not wake up Clank. Ratchet nodding to show he heard, the male still staring at the sky as he answered just as softly and quietly.

"It's probably cause you are," Aphelion looked at the sky with confusion as she pondered his words. It's probably cause you are? What did he mean by that? "As a ship- and I going to be honest and admit right now that I have no clue how it works, cause I've never been a ship… But I think as a ship, your sight is done with sensors; which take in the light, process it, and then send the information to you as code… But then as a actual legitimate living being, you are taking the light and processing it yourself, getting the information in it's purest form… Which allows you to see the stars in all of their beautiful glory." Ratchet then finished in a soft voice, one that sounded mature and experienced, and almost nothing like the usual voice Aphelion heard from the fellow Lombax. Aphelion looked over at Ratchet with slightly wide eyes, only to see on the male, an expression that was most unusual; it was calm, satisfied, a little happy, a little detached and… Tired? Aphelion looked closer at the yellow Lombax and noticed that the tiredness in Ratchet's eyes wasn't the tiredness that came with sleepiness, it was the kind that came from experiencing too much, the kind that a soldier would have after being in a long war.

"…Ratchet…?" She called softly, wondering where did this mature and adult-like personality came from, and where'd the explosive teenager-like personality go. Ratchet didn't respond as he continued to stare at the sky.

"Don't worry Aphelion… Once we find a way off this planet, I'll try my damnedest to find the machine that can revert you back to a ship, I'll fix this for both you, and Clank, that I promise…" Ratchet states quietly with determination and seriousness in his voice, Aphelion staring at the yellow Lombax silently before calling his name once again.

"Ratchet…?" Ratchet blinked before looking over at Aphelion, he then chuckled quietly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, kinda spouting nonsense over here," He apologizes sheepishly before taking a deep breath and relaxing on his back. "Night Aphelion…"

Aphelion nodded before turning and facing lying on her back facing away from Ratchet, going silent as she thought of all the things both Ratchet and Clank had said to her. Something didn't seem right, she couldn't place it, but something about what Clank had talked about, and Ratchet didn't, revealed something. What it was, Aphelion wasn't exactly sure, so she continued to think about both of her conversations with the two males, and something suddenly clicked.

While Clank had shared his problems, his worries, and his fears with Aphelion, and sometimes even Ratchet. The yellow Lombax had kept everything that ever bugged him a secret, and even in their conversation just moments ago, the subject was Aphelion and her issues. Not a single word that was spoken had addressed the fears and worries that Ratchet could be feeling.

" _And he isn't even trying to talk about it…. Like he's hiding it on purpose…"_ Aphelion thought with worry in her heart. She then contemplated talking to Ratchet again and address his problems, but something made her hesitate, she wasn't sure why, but a gut feeling told her that if she had asked anything now, she wouldn't be getting any answers for a while. After a couple of more moments, Aphelion had decided to just go for it and ask Ratchet the question on her mind.

"Ratchet? Are you still awake?"

"…Hmm…?" Came the super quiet and soft reply, signaling that Ratchet was awake, but just barely, Aphelion thought about it for a moment, before deciding better and sighing.

"Never mind… Goodnight…" Aphelion softly reassures as she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, only hearing a small moan in response. The female then slowly drifted off to sleep, her last thoughts questioning the possible events of the next day.

However, Ratchet was still awake.

Wide awake as a matter of fact, he hadn't even been drowsy, he only faked his sleepiness cause he knew exactly what the next subject was going to be should his and Aphelion's conversation continue any further.

" _And I don't need them worrying about me… They've already got way to much to worry about as is…_ " The male thought sadly as he stared at the sky, the faint, far away dots of light being both comforting, and disturbing to the Lombax. Their distant glows reminding him of all the fun he had on his adventures, but at the same time, all the pain he and anyone with him felt. Between these thoughts running through his mind, and the defensive vulnerable feeling he felt as he lay in a completely open forest with nothing but a few weapons to protect him, Clank, and Aphelion.

Ratchet knew he wasn't going to get much sleep that night.

* * *

A faint voice called Ratchet's name, but the male could barely hear it, and now that he thought about the name that was called, was it really his name? It didn't sound anything like the name 'Ratchet'; it sounded completely alien, yet Ratchet could tell it was his name somehow. However, he couldn't open his eyes or focus enough to understand or hear the name completely, sleep keeping its firm grasp on the Lombax. The voice then got louder as it called the name once again, but once again Ratchet couldn't tell what was said. So he decided to think about the voice itself; it sounded familiar, definitely male, and it sounded just like him, but it wasn't Clank. It instead sounded like an older version of him… Then something clicked, there was a Lombax that was like him, one that Alister had told him that he looked and acted just like, what was the name of the Lombax Alister had told him about?

…Kad-

"Ratchet?" The yellow Lombax slowly opened his eyes, his focus coming back as he saw Clank crouched over him, and Aphelion standing next to Clank. Ratchet stared at the two with an almost blank drowsy expression; before he blinked whatever exhaustion he had out of his eyes and yawned loudly, raising his arms above his head as he stretched.

"Morning Clank, Aphelion…" He stated drowsily, Aphelion smiling and nodding with some worry in her eyes, while Clank smiled brightly and gave a nod.

"Good morning indeed Ratchet; the skies are clear today, just like the previous day." Clank informs looking around at the forest, then looking at the stars, before looking at Ratchet. The yellow Lombax looked back at his friend silently for a moment before suddenly closing his eyes in an expression that was expecting pain as he shot up and banged his forehead against Clank's. The grey Lombax yelping as he stood up and grabbed his head, while Ratchet sat up completely and rubbed his. Aphelion watched with wide eyes as Clank whimpered and held his head tightly, rubbing it constantly as tears escaped from his eyes.

"Why?" The male asks in a whiny voice as Ratchet rubbed his head more with a dull expression, then got up and faced Clank with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Clank, I did that for two reasons," Ratchet explained as he walked over and gently patted Clank's forehead, Aphelion still watching the two with pure confusion in every once of her expression, "One, you haven't really experienced any pain yet in this body… So I thought I'd introduce you now instead of you being introduced by being shot, or stabbed, or some crap. Reason-number two; it's kinda revenge for when you slammed your face into mine remember? When we first met?" Clank gave a small nod in response as he removed his hands from around Ratchet's and just let the yellow Lombax pet his head where he was hit, instead giving his full attention to the fellow male. Ratchet smiled a bit softer as he gave Clank's head one last pat before removing his hand.

"Come on, we have to get back and find the city." Ratchet stated walking back to the path, Clank and Aphelion at his sides as the three soon were back on their way to civilization.

"I have a question… and I think it's of some serious importance." Aphelion suddenly speaks up, Clank and Ratchet looking at her curiously as she looked back at the two with worry and confusion. "Why do organics leak from their eyes when they're sad? Shouldn't we be worried about that or something?"

Ratchet and Clank stared at Aphelion with wide eyes; both had completely forgotten to explain the idea of crying to the female, realizing their mistake, the two males then looked at each other with the same wide eye-d expressions. In all honesty, the simple fact that they forgot was pretty funny; couple that with Aphelion's adorable question, and her just as adorable expression, and the two just couldn't hold themselves back anymore. First it started with a snicker, then it turned into chuckles, then before Aphelion had realized it, Ratchet and Clank had both stopped walking in order to keep their balance as they laughed out as loud as they could.

"W-what is it? I-is what I'm asking not as bad as I thought? W-why are you to acting so silly about this?" Aphelion asks switching her gaze between Ratchet; who was bent over with his arms wrapping around his stomach, and Clank; who had one hand on his knee, and the other on his forehead as both couldn't control their laughter.

"Hello? Can someone answer me please?" Aphelion asks loudly, her eyebrows angling downwards in frustration at the two boys, who finally started to calm down.

"Ah *cough*, you see Aphelion it is *huff*, it is quite simple." Clank started to explain as he calmed down, the grey Lombax taking a deep breath to clam himself down before raising up to finish his explanation, Ratchet meanwhile just took his time calming down his urge to roll on the floor laughing like an idiot.

"What comes from our eyes are called tears; tears are produced in response to a strong emotion one may experience from stress, pleasure, anger, sadness and suffering to indeed, physical pain. The tears themselves contain a natural painkiller, called Leucine enkephalin. It is perhaps, part of the reason why some organisms might feel better after crying." Clank explains with a friendly smile, Ratchet shaking his head with a grin at his friend's in-depth explanation.

Aphelion nodded at Clank's words, contemplating them before sighing in both relief and embarrassment, a small blush grazing her cheeks before she moved on.

"Let's get a move on already."

"Agreed."

"O- *Pant* Okay… Hold on... Whew..."

The three had been walking for a while in silence, Ratchet watching straight ahead, while Clank occasionally glanced around, and Aphelion looked around constantly. While he was sure that they were making progress, Ratchet couldn't help but want to shoot something due to how bored he was getting, so after a while, he decided to strike up a conversation to pass the time.

"Hey… Hey Clank, Aphelion? What do you think of the idea of getting you two some new clothes once we find the city?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head. The subject he had just asked about had lingered on the male's mind for a while, surely, Clank and Aphelion didn't want to walk around with worn and used armors, and would like high-quality brand-spanking-new attire right? Clank looked at Ratchet before looking down slightly and placing a hand on his chin, Aphelion looking over at the leader as well before giving a shrug.

"I guess if that's okay… I honestly don't see what's wrong with just having these re-paired." Aphelion admits looking at her attire before looking at Ratchet, who looked back at her with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Well… Don't you have certain colors or features that you would like on your armor? You know, to kinda show the world a bit more of you, instead of me." Ratchet explains and asks, Aphelion nodding before glancing off in thought. Now that she did think about it, she had noticed the contrast the warm colors of her current attire had with the blue streaks on her fur, which she honestly thought didn't match so well. Not to mention there's the longer hair-like fur on her head, which she thought was annoying for sure, especially when it got in her face –which is where it happened to like to hang out-, she also figured her hair would also be disadvantageous in a conflict.

"On second thought… Yes, I would like to change my attire." Aphelion then answers with certainty. Ratchet blinking before grinning and nodding, he then turned to look at his other close friend, who was still staring at the ground with a hand on his chin in thought.

"And you Clank? What do you think?" Clank continued to think silently for a while longer, Ratchet watching patiently for the grey Lombax to answer his question. Soon, even Aphelion looked over in curiosity as Clank had yet to answer the question, but just as soon as the female had looked over, did Clank remove his hand from his chin and look over at Ratchet and Aphelion.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do have a desire to change the attire that I have equipped." Clank finally answers with a smile, Ratchet nodding while Aphelion looked ahead.

"Alright then! All that's left now is to get there." The male cheered with an excited smile as he looked ahead as well. Aphelion glanced at Ratchet with some worry in her eyes before pausing as their leader had stopped walking.

"What is the matter?" Clank asks as he stops and looks over at Ratchet as well, the yellow Lombax staring off with a big grin and wide eyes, Aphelion continued to stare confusedly while Clank suddenly smiled and looked in the same direction his friend was. There, just beyond a thin wall of trees, lights and buildings could be seen, Aphelion's eyes widening before she, Clank and Ratchet all ran to the trees (Ratchet getting there last due to his limp).

"About damn time!" Ratchet cheered as right there, was a bustling city that the three presumed to be Avius, though it was bustling, it definitely wasn't vibrant, most of it's colors consisting of dull brownish-greens, and bright white lights here and there.

"Not what I expected, but then again, what was I expecting?" Clank comments with a shrug and his signature giggle, Aphelion giggling and Ratchet chuckling once he heard it before pushing past the trees.

"Come on!" He called back eagerly, Clank immediately following just as eager, while Aphelion watched the two curiously.

" _I think I'm seeing it better now…_ " Aphelion thought smiling warmly before following after her two comrades into the city.

As soon as they were inside, Ratchet had been asking around for a tailor or armory of some kind, questioning adults, teenagers, kids and beings of questionable age. Though he mostly received odd looks and jerk-bag child jokes about his appearance in response; all of which only succeeded in angering the young adult, who was currently fighting the suddenly compelling urge to grab his Incinerator and light every living thing in sight.

"Ratchet, please take a deep breath and calm down, we don't need anymore repair bills, or fines, or citations to worry about." Clank protests kindly, Aphelion smiling apologetically as she patted the pissed off Lombax's back gently. Ratchet glanced at the two before he took a deep breath, then all three jumped slightly as a voice had addressed them quite bluntly.

"Ku'echse ke bisha philost jid?" Came a super rough male adult-sounding voice, Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion all turning to see a bipedal creature that looked like it was a mix of an orca, a dragon, and a shark, with fur grown around his neck like a fleece collar. The three Lombaxes stared wide-eyed at the person that was taller than the three of them, granted, he didn't tower over them like the poachers did, but he wasn't exactly that average in terms of height.

"Umm…" Aphelion voiced awkwardly, not understanding a word that had came out of the creature's mouth. The Orca-dragon-shark creature raised an eyebrow at the three before sighing as he tapped at his throat with a claw and an annoyed expression.

"Stupid F-kaukes yuqw-lator, I swore I just got this sh-beshmy fixed the oth- owllus quay." He growled, the words that the three alien-cat like creatures could understand coming out in a smooth and calm sounding mature voice, even though the actual words said –or implied being said- implied anything but those traits. The creature continued tapping his collar before clearing his thought and looking at the three Lombaxes.

"I said 'why are you looking for my shop sir?" He repeats, his voice sounding a calm and cool-headed, if a bit dull. Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion all looked at each other before looking at the creature with curious expressions.

"May we ask what species you are?" Clank asks politely, the male looking at the grey Lombax with a raised eyebrow before crossing his arms, a slightly skeptical look on his expression

"If you must know, I am a Jikkhat, my name is Tadekchk." Tadekchk introduces calmly before staring at the three almost interrogatingly. "And may I ask what species you three are?"

"We're Lombaxes, there's only four of us left including us soo… Yeah." Ratchet quickly answered, Clank nodding while Aphelion stared at the yellow male as if he had a loose bolt. Tadekch raised an eyebrow as he stared at the three intently, which only succeeded in making the nearly last remaining Lombaxes increasingly nervous. The silence that was currently taking its stay was filled with nervousness, all of it, emitting from the feline-like aliens, while the multi-creature alien continued to stare intently before he smirk ever so slightly and rose up.

"I can see why you'd be looking for an armory, something like you three would be hunted by shady poachers almost non-stop." He states, Ratchet letting out a small chuckle noise as he had remembered the sorry group of suckers that he, Aphelion and Clank had attacked the previous day.

"Yeah…" Tadekchk raised an eyebrow with the same smirk before he turned and started heading off, making Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion watch him with slightly wide eyes.

"Hey wait!" Aphelion called as she took a couple of steps forward, the Jikkhat stopping in place and turning to look at the three.

"Well? You want some new stuff or not?" Tadekchk called out in a blunt tone, Aphelion blinked before she, Clank and Ratchet quickly followed the presumably older male, the group of now four members making their way through the overly crowded streets until they reached a clearing with barely any people. There the Jikkhat glanced around for a moment before heading towards a two-story building that what it lacked in height, made up for in width and depth. Tadekch casually walked inside, while the three Lombaxes stopped at the entrance and looked at each other.

"Can we trust him?" Aphelion immediately asked, the two male Lombaxes looking at each other before looking at her.

"I believe so."

"Yeah I think he's fine." Was their simultaneous answer, their tones being both confident and comfortable. Aphelion however was confused; how could they trust somebody they literally just met? Especially after what happened with the poachers? Ratchet and Clank seemed to have gotten her mental question as the latter smiled softly and the former snickered a little.

"You see Aphy, after a while you can kinda tell what kind of person someone is based on how they talk and act. To me, Tadekchk is pretty trustworthy if I say so myself." Ratchet explains with a shrug, Clank voicing his agreement with a more energetic smile. Aphelion stared at the two for a moment questioning their mindsets before sighing and looking towards the shop. The place was of fair cleanliness, especially when you consider what it's used for, the main color was a dull blue that still managed to stand out among all the different greens and browns, then right above the door were bold words that read " _Tadekchk Hamrou Ets Quowa_." Aphelion stared at the logo for a moment before looking down as she heard the door opening, only to see Tadekchk poking his head out with a questioning expression.

"You coming in?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Aphelion looked at Ratchet and Clank, who only shrugged at her with small smiles, before all three headed into the store.

Inside Ratchet had been extremely giddy, especially once he looked around the store; weapons and armor of all kinds were hanging on walls, in glass boxes on display with the ammo for all of it in boxes that were just about everywhere. Tadekchk glanced at the happy Lombax and scoffed in amusement before heading over to the back of the store and standing behind the counter.

"Go ahead and satisfy your curiosity, you can look at the weapons and armor, but no holding unless you're going to buy, which if that's the case, then grab what you like and head over here." He informed calmly with a small smile. Ratchet barely nodding at the Jikkhat before he grabbed Clank and Aphelion's wrists and bolted over to the armor section, both non-natural Lombaxes yelping as they were pulled by the limping excited leader.

"Go ahead you two! Take a look around," Ratchet encouraged in excitement as he nudged his two friends all the way into the armory, "While I ask if I can get my shirt fixed." He then finished as he turned on his good-leg and headed over to the counter.

"Can you fix clothes?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head as he stops in front of the counter, which was just low enough for him to comfortably lean against. Tadekchk glancing at the young adult as he was finishing his inspection of a weapon, before he put it back and pointed toward the front door.

"Didn't you read the sign?" He asked, Ratchet nodding before stating how he had no idea what it meant. Tadekchk stared at Ratchet with a somewhat blank expression before sighing.

"Going to take a wild guess and say you've never been to Feschere, let alone Avius have you?" He asked looking down with at Ratchet with an expectant look on his face. Ratchet blinked before looking down and placing a hand on his chin.

" _So that's the name of this planet… I wonder what solar system it's a part of…_ " He thought curiously before returning to the conversation at hand. "No." Tadekchk gave a nod before grabbing a chair and casually sitting down.

"It means ' _Tadekchk Repair and Create_ '." The presumably older male explained, giving Ratchet a moment of silence to understand before he added. "And to answer your previous question, I can make attire from scratch, so fixing isn't a problem."

Ratchet's eyes widened in joy before the Lombax quickly took off his harness, then his shirt -though was careful to not agitate his injuries- before he quickly handed the orange shirt to Tadekchk.

"Fix this please?" He asks eagerly, Tadekchk blinking with an honestly surprised expression at Ratchet's eagerness before he took the shirt, and noticed a tear in Ratchet's pants in the side of his right thigh.

"You want that fixed too? I can give you something to wear as a temporary replacement, it should take me about twenty minutes to fix both the shirt and the pants." The Jikkhat suggests with a raised eyebrow, Ratchet blinking before nodding with a smaller grin.

"Sure, but first things first." Ratchet states putting his harness back on then running over to Clank and Aphelion, Tadekchk watching after him for a moment before heading on back to grab something for the small Lombax to wear.

Clank had been watching Aphelion sift through the available armors and attire, the grey Lombax simply being a mixture of polite and confused; polite because he had thought Aphelion might want his opinion on something, and was waiting to be asked. Confused, because he had absolutely no idea what he wanted, let alone what to look for.

"I think I know what I want." Aphelion suddenly informs stopping and staring at a specific kind of armor that peaked her interest. It was an armor/attire mix with different shades of black, grey, turquoise, some yellow trimming here and there and had a glowing blue core on the chest, as well as on the belt and gloves. Clank looked at Aphelion and walking over, the male inspecting the armor, then Aphelion herself, then giving a small apologetic smile.

"While I do agree that it the colors suit your dark and bright palette accurately, I'm afraid to say that I do not think the armor is small enough to fit you physically." Clank informed looking at the armor again then looking at Aphelion, who only huffed at the inconvenience, before both jumped with tiny yips as Ratchet suddenly popped up next to them.

"Guys! Come with me!" Ratchet says happily as he grabs their wrists, Aphelion tilting her head in confusion while Clank looked at the male with confusion and surprise.

"Where is your shirt?"

"I'll explain in a moment, just come on!" Ratchet replied eagerly as he began pulling them along, Clank following quickly while Aphelion stared sadly at the armor that she had wanted. Once at the counter again, Ratchet saw Tadekchk with two pair of pants; one a dull dark green, and the other an earth brown.

"Hey thanks! But anyways, could you make these two some new attire? Maybe some armor as well?" Ratchet asked curiously, Clank and Aphelion looking at him with wide eyes, as did the Jikkhat that was asked the question.

"Wha-"

"Actually Ratchet, I have something that I already like." Aphelion informed, Ratchet blinking and looking at her before nodding.

"Then go get it!" He encourages, Aphelion smiling brightly and nodding before going back to grab the armor that had caught her attention. Clank meanwhile had stood there feeling awkward as he had nothing he wanted to take, Ratchet looking at his friend curiously while Tadekchk started typing something into a computer that sat on the counter.

"Well Clank? Saw anything you'd like?" Ratchet asks with a tilt of his head and a curious smile. Clank blinking before giving a small shake of his head.

"I am afraid to say that is not the case, I apologize, but I do not find any of the available armors appealing… I was thinking perhaps I could have a kind of balance between your attire and this armor, as I have noticed that this place has the materials required for a tailor shop as well." Clank informs with a sheepish, if not, shy smile. Ratchet blinking in surprise before smiling brightly and looking at Tadekchk with curiosity, the Jikkhat glancing at the two males and answering their question before they even asked.

"I can make something like that happen; you two seem to have the same body shape in terms of both height and width, so it shouldn't be a problem." He informs smirking at the two, before all three looked at Aphelion who placed the armor she had wanted on the counter.

"This is what I liked." Aphelion states with a big smile, Clank blinking at the armor while Ratchet whistled.

"Not a bad choice Aphy." Ratchet comments with a big friendly grin, Aphelion blushing slightly at the nickname as she looked at the male confusedly, then looked at Tadekchk who simply started typing something else into his computer.

"And will that be all?" He asked, Aphelion giving an eager nod, Ratchet nodding casually, and Clank looking at the armor Aphelion had grabbed with curiosity. The Jikkhat nodded before pressing a key on the device and showed it to the three Lombaxes.

"Here's the price, and I'm giving you three a **really** large discount since it's your first time here." He informs casually, however, what he had on that screen was anything but. Clank's eyes widened tremendously at the sight of just how many digits there were, Aphelion blinking as she stared with a just as surprised expression, Ratchet however, just had a cool-headed smirk as he looked at the price, then at Tadekchk.

"Okay." The Lombax simply replied, his brethren looking at him as if he was completely insane. Ratchet however, was still not worried as he turned and faced Clank, then tapped the pendant on the grey Lombax's chest five times, getting a bright blue glow, before suddenly having five Golden Bolts in his hands. Clank stared at the golden bolts with surprise, with everything that had been happening these past two days; the grey Lombax had forgotten completely that they were in possession of twenty-five –now twenty- Golden Bolts. He was honestly surprised that Ratchet had remembered at all, and smiled at the fellow male as he placed the shining large bolts on the counter in front of Tadekchk; who just stared at the Golden Bolts as if they were the first bowl of food he had seen in years. The Jikkhat continued to stare at the high-pricy items before looking at the three Lombaxes who only smiled at him, Tadekchk did not expect this at all for he had believed that these three were a trio of teenage siblings, who had lost their way and needed some help. Not a trio of rare-species possible adults that had Golden Bolts hidden in their grey friend's chest-pendant.

" _Last time I ever jump to conclusions…_ " Tadekchk mentally noted, still staring at the five Golden Bolts on his counter before looking at the three cat-like aliens

" _What in interesting trio…_ " He thought, perhaps it was just a gut feeling, or maybe the younger excitable side of his personality, but Tadekchk had a feeling that if he stuck around these three more, or at least helped them out more often, his life would get real interesting real fast. In all honesty; he couldn't help but pump a fist inside for finally finding a reason to break this boring routine that was his life so far, and these three; Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion, were definitely people he did not want to expel from his life.

" _What a great turn of events…"_

* * *

After waiting quite awhile, the three Lombaxes had exited the Jikkhat's store with satisfaction on their faces; Ratchet's shirt and pants all fixed up, while Clank and Aphelion were satisfied with their new attire.

"I have to say, Tadekchk is pretty awesome at what he does!" Ratchet cheers happily, Clank nodding in agreement while Aphelion kept checking out the details of her attire.

"I agree..." Aphelion says happily, mentally realizing how pleasing it was to get something one desired, which isn't something that happened often while she was a ship -aside from the standards anyway-. In fact now that she thought about it, having this body wasn't bad at all; she got to experience true emotions, got to see the stars with her own eyes and even got to fire a gun, not to mention all the new things she was doing and seeing. But what Aphelion would have to say that she found the most important thing, was that her wish had come true.

She is now able to travel, fight, joke, and even physically hug the two closest people in her life. Knowing that she could go with the two she considered family almost where ever they went, knowing that she could truly stay by their side and they at hers.

It made whatever trouble she has gone through so far worth it, for she was with the only family she's had in a long, long time.

And it made her happy.

* * *

 **And voila! That is the fifth chapter people, though I'm not sure about the ending, I really hope I satisfied you all with this since it's almost two times the usual amount of words I right per chapter. As for the character Tadekchk, while he'll probably appear often, he isn't a main character; after all, this entire story is focused on our three Lombaxes.**

 **I also thought I should let ya'll know, I've drawn what Clank and Aphelion look like once they have what they ordered from the cool-headed Jikkhat. Just look up KDS2 on Deviantart to see them!**

 **I guess I should tell you all how to pronounce some of the things said on here:**

 **Tadekchk = (Ta-Dae-sh-ck)**

 **Jikkhat = (Jee-ki-cat)**

 **Planet Fechere = (Fe-sh-share)**

 **City of Avius = (Ay-vee-us)**

 **As always, Constructive Criticism is always appreciated! See you next time and take care, everybody!**


End file.
